THE UTILITY OF POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY IN ORAL AND MAXILLOFACIAL CANCER

ABSTRACT

Positron emission tomography(PET) is a diagnostic method that creates high resolution, 3-Dimentional tomographic images of the distribution of positron emitting radionuclides in human body. Computed tomography(CT) and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) are routinely used to delineate the presence and extent of primary and metastatic oral and maxillofacial malignancy. Because the CT and MRI criteria for malignancy depend upon morphology, these imaging techniques have limitations in their ability to identify malignant tissue when fascial planes are distorted or destroyed. PET has the advantage of imaging metabolic changes that appear to be linked to malignancy. Recently, PET has shown promise in the early detection of primary and metastatic oral and maxillofacial canter and has been used to evaluate the tumor response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We report cases of diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial cancers and review the literatures to determine whether PET is effective in identifying oral and maxillofacial tumors.