ORIGINAL ARTICLE LYMPHOSCINTIGRAPHY FOR SENTINEL NODE MAPPING USING A HYBRID SINGLE PHOTON EMISSION CT (SPECT)/CT SYSTEM IN ORAL CAVITY SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

Abstract: Background. We assessed the added clinical value of fused single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and low-dose CT images compared with planar images for sentinel node (SN) mapping in patients with oral cavity squa-mous cell carcinoma (SCC). Methods. Twenty consecutive patients with newly diagnosed biopsy-proven SCC of the oral cavity were enrolled. Scintigraphy was performed using a hybrid gamma-camera/low-dose CT sys-tem. Planar images and fused SPECT/CT images were inter-preted separately. All patients underwent a sentinel node biopsy (SNB) followed by a neck dissection. All SNs underwent meticu-lous pathologic examination and immunohistochemistry staining (cytokeratin complex) in addition to routine pathologic examina-tions of the neck dissection specimen. Results. The sensitivity for the detection of nodal metastase