@article{oai:repo.qst.go.jp:00045478,
 author = {Yamazaki, Yutaka and Notani, Ken-ichi and Tei, Kanchu and Totsuka, Yasunori and Takinami, Shu-ichi and Kanegae, Kakuko and Inubushi, Masayuki and Kitagawa, Yoshimasa and et.al and 犬伏 正幸},
 issue = {3},
 journal = {Annals of Nuclear Medicine},
 month = {May},
 note = {Objective To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography(FDG-PET) relative to computed tomography (CT) for detecting metastatic cervical lymph nodes in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC), and to ascertain the factors that affect this accuracy.
Methods A total of 1076 lymph nodes obtained from 35 neck dissections in 26 HNSCC patients who preoperatively underwent both FDG-PET and CT were retrospectively
analyzed. For pathological metastatic lymphnodes, the lymph node size (short-axis diameter), theratio of intranodal tumor deposits, and the size of intranodaltumor deposits (maximum diameter of metastaticfoci in each lymph node) were histologically recorded.Results Forty-six lymph nodes from 23 neck sides were
pathologically diagnosed metastases. The sensitivity, specifi city, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of FDG-PET evaluated individually per neck side were 74%, 92%, 80%, 94%, and 65%, respectively, whereas those of CT were 78%, 58%, 71%, 78%, and 58%, respectively. FDG-PET detected 100%
of metastatic lymph nodes ≥10 mm, intranodal tumor deposits ≥9 mm, and intranodal tumor deposits with a ratio >75%, whereas no nodes or tumor deposits smaller than 
5 mm were detected. The spatial resolution limitations of FDG-PET were responsible for 16 of 20 (80%) false-negative PET results in lymph nodes.
Conclusions FDG-PET is a useful tool for preoperative evaluation of the neck because it accurately detects metastatic lymph nodes ≥10 mm and has fewer false-positive cases than CT. The high specifi city of FDG-PET for lymph node metastases may play an important role in avoiding unnecessary neck dissection.},
 pages = {177--184},
 title = {Assessment of cervical lymph node metastases using FDG-PET in patients with head and neck cancer},
 volume = {22},
 year = {2008}
}