Evaluation of normal FDG uptake in palatine tonsil and its potential value for detecting occult head and neck cancers: A PET CT study.
Nucl Med Commun. 2007 Sep;28(9):675-80.
Wong W.L., Gibson D., Sanghera B., Goodchild K., Saunders M.
aPaul Strickland Scanner Centre bMarie Curie Research Wing for Oncology, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex, UK.
OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to (1) evaluate the range of physiological FDG uptake in normal pharyngeal palatine tonsil, and (2) investigate the possibility of establishing a cut-off threshold to distinguish between normal pharyngeal palatine tonsil FDG uptake from occult pharyngeal palatine tonsil primary cancer. METHODS: FDG PET CT of 43 consecutive patients with a low risk of head and neck cancer were reviewed by two observers. Axial PET CT was used to identify foci of FDG uptake related to the pharyngeal palatine tonsil. The highest standardized uptake value, SUVmax, of the left and right pharyngeal palatine tonsil was calculated. Similar analysis was performed on 10 consecutive patents with histologically proven occult pharyngeal palatine tonsil primary cancer. RESULTS: The mean SUVmax of the 43 right pharyngeal palatine tonsils was 4.82 (range, 1.16-12.74) and 4.68 (range, 0.88-13.65) for the 43 left pharyngeal palatine tonsils with no statistical difference observed (P=0.4). Normal pharyngeal palatine tonsil uptake was generally symmetrical and there was a positive correlation between SUVmax from the left and right sides which was statistically significant (r=0.9, P<0.0001).>