Source: Journal of Nuclear Medicine (October 2008, Vol. 49:10, pp. 1593-1599) Author: Dr. Andrew Scott et al. Led by Dr. Andrew Scott, director of the Centre for PET at Austin Hospital in Melbourne, the newest research shows that PET provides important prognostic information in a large proportion of patients with untreated head and neck cancer, and detects additional sites of disease. The prospective study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (October 2008, Vol. 49:10, pp. 1593-1599), was conducted at three Australian PET centers between December 17, 2003, and June 3, 2005. The criteria for enrollment included patients who previously had untreated carcinoma of the nasal cavity, nasopharynx, oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx, or had metastatic disease involving cervical lymph nodes from an unknown primary. Patients underwent examination under anesthesia and biopsy to confirm their diagnosis of cancer. Contrast-enhanced CT of the neck was required within six weeks of the PET scan. Patients fasted for a minimum of six hours before the PET study and received a dose of 120-440 MBq FDG intravenously. After a minimum uptake period of 45 minutes, researchers acquired PET data from the skull vertex to at least the lower abdomen. Treatment plans Before receiving the results of the PET scans, researchers asked referring clinicians to document their management plan for the patient, as if PET findings were not available, but with access to all other clinical and conventional imaging results. The management plan provided information on options such as surgery, [...]