Abstract:

Objective: Our aim is to investigate the relation between preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and histopathological findings in advanced-stage laryngeal cancers (ASLC). Also, another aim is to discuss importance of PET/CT in management of patients by investigating the need for postoperative radiotherapy/chemotherapy (RT/CT) with preoperative PET/CT findings. Material and Methods: Between 2010 and 2020 years, patients diagnosed with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and undergoing total laryngectomy were retrospectively reviewed from medical charts of the patients. Of 70 patients, 36 patients with ASLC, undergoing bilateral neck dissection and with preoperative PET/CT results were included this study. We investigated correlation between maximum standard uptake values (SUVmax) in preoperative PET/CT and histopathological finding, including perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, metastasis to lymph node (LN) and extracapsular spread (ECS). Results: Four female and 32 male patients were included this study. The mean age was 62.02±11.40 years. Seventeen (47%) had T3 and 19 (53%) patients had T4 tumor. There was a statistically significant relation between SUVmax value of LN and histopathological findings, metastasis to LN, the number of metastatic LNs and ECS. Cut-off value of SUVmax for metastatic LN in preoperative PET/CT was 6.36 (a sensitivity of 86.4% and specificity of 78.6%) and cut-off value of SUVmax for ECS was 9 (a sensitivity of 76.9% and specificity of 78.3%). Conclusion: SUVmax values over 6.36 may be correlated with metastasis to LN while those over 9.0 are correlated with ECS. These results may be helpful preoperatively in management of the disease and counseling of patients and their relatives in adjuvant RT/CT.

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