Advances in imaging in the work-up of head and neck cancer patients

SummaryAccurate staging at the time of the diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is critical for selection of the appropriate treatment strategy. Therefore, optimizing pre-treatment imaging in the diagnostic work-up is of great importance. CT and MRI are the corner stones of diagnostic work-up. Technical improvements will increase the value of these techniques even further. PET and PET-CT became a standard imaging techniques for HNSCC patients. It may be helpful for the detection of occult primary tumours, but its sensitivity for the detection of occult lymph node metastases is too low. Alternatively, the sentinel node procedure may be sufficiently accurate to avoid elective treatment of the neck. Screening for distant metastases should be performed only in HNSCC patients with high risk factors by FDG-PET-CT.