F-Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Imaging of Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Cancer with Emphasis on the Distribution of Bone Metastases.

Distant metastases change the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) which most commonly metastasizes to the bone. F-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is reported as useful in imaging NPC metastases. Our study assesses the incidence and distribution of bone metastases detected by F-FDG PET/CT in NPC.

The incidence and sites of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) metastases on FDG PET/CT scans.

Introduction: The only investigation to determine if a whole body FDG PET/CT scan is helpful in the evaluation of NPC is a study from Stanford. In this study, 26 patients with whole body PET/CT, were evaluated for lesions below adrenals and showed that 7.7% of distant metastases were below adrenals.