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. 2022 Aug 27;10(9):2095.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10092095.

Real-Life Performance of F-18-FDG PET/CT in Patients with Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of Unknown Primary Tumor

Friederike Eilsberger  1 , Friederike Elisabeth Noltenius  1 , Damiano Librizzi  1 , Joel Wessendorf  1 , Markus Luster  1 , Stephan Hoch  2 , Andreas Pfestroff  1
Affiliations

Real-Life Performance of F-18-FDG PET/CT in Patients with Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of Unknown Primary Tumor

Friederike Eilsberger et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

Background: Neoplasms in the head and neck region possess higher glycolytic activity than normal tissue, showing increased glucose metabolism. F-18-Flourodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) can identify an unknown primary tumor (CUP).

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the real-life performance of F-18-FDG-PET/CT in detecting primary sites in patients with cervical lymph node metastasis of CUP.

Methods: A retrospective data analysis of 31 patients who received FDG-PET/CT between June 2009 and March 2015 in a CUP context with histologically confirmed cervical lymph node metastasis was included.

Results: In 48% of the patients (15/31), PET/CT showed suspicious tracer accumulation. In 52% of the patients (16/31), there was no suspicious radiotracer uptake, which was confirmed by the lack of identification of any primary tumor in 10 cases until the end of follow-up. FDG-PET/CT had a sensitivity of 67%, specificity of 91%, PPV of 92%, and NPV of 63% in detecting the primary tumor. Additionally, PET/CT showed suspicious tracer accumulation according to further metastasis in 32% of the patients (10/31).

Conclusion: FDG-PET/CT imaging is a useful technique for primary tumor detection in patients in a cervical CUP context. Furthermore, it provides information on the ulterior metastasis of the disease.

Keywords: CUP; FDG-PET/CT; lymph node metastasis; unknown primary tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient collective.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Primary tumor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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