Posttreatment surveillance PET/CT for HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Surveillance positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) is commonly used for treatment assessment of radiation therapy in head and neck cancer. However, human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV+OPSCC) patients represent a unique subpopulation, for which the utility of surveillance PET/CT has not been well studied. METHODS: In this retrospective chart review comprising 233 HPV+OPSCC patients, we evaluated surveillance PET/CT for diagnostic accuracy, downstream clinical impact, and survival. RESULTS: Surveillance PET/CT demonstrated 100% negative predictive value and sensitivity, 59.9% specificity, and 13.4% positive predictive value. Surveillance PET/CT led to 90 imaging studies and 31 biopsies; 91.1% and 77.4% were negative for recurrence, respectively. Surveillance PET/CT led to meaningful salvage therapy in 1.6% of cases. PET/CT-detected recurrences did not have improved survival compared to clinically detected recurrences. CONCLUSION: For HPV+OPSCC patients, surveillance PET/CTs frequently lead to unnecessary testing and rarely to meaningful disease salvage. They have no demonstrated survival benefit and should be interpreted cautiously to prevent patient harm.

Mobile health in China: a review of research and programs in medical care, health education, and public health.

There are nearly 1 billion mobile phone subscribers in China. Health care providers, telecommunications companies, technology firms, and Chinese governmental organizations use existing mobile technology and social networks to improve patient-provider communication, promote health education and awareness, add efficiency to administrative practices, and enhance public health campaigns. This review of mobile health in China summarizes existing clinical research and public health text messaging campaigns while highlighting potential future areas of research and program implementation. Databases and search engines served as the primary means of gathering relevant resources. Included material largely consists of scientific articles and official reports that met predefined inclusion criteria. This review includes 10 reports of controlled studies that assessed the use of mobile technology in health care settings and 17 official reports of public health awareness campaigns that used text messaging. All source material was published between 2006 and 2011. The controlled studies suggested that mobile technology interventions significantly improved an array of health care outcomes. However, additional efforts are needed to refine mobile health research and better understand the applicability of mobile technology in China's health care settings. A vast potential exists for the expansion of mobile health in China, especially as costs decrease and increasingly sophisticated technology becomes more widespread.