Abstract
Critical assessment of head and neck cancer with respect to staging has, on occasion, been disappointingly ineffective. We have attempted to correlate the incidence of measure-able uptake of cobalt 57 tagged bleomycin by primary squamous cell carcinoma and metastatic cervical lymph nodes. Forty-six cases have been evaluated with respect to histo-pathological confirmation of the suspected metastatic disease. We have found that this diagnostic measure increases our acumen in staging of head and neck cancer. The relevance of the Co-Bleo scans as a diagnostic aid is reported in 46 cases. Malignant tumors greater than 2 cm in size appear to demonstrate active uptake of the imaging agent. Small tumor size and excess background radioactivity contribute to the false-negatives (17%). Inflammatory conditions or benign tumors of the salivary apparatus may result in minimal uptake, thus, a false-positive result (10%). An increase in the radioactivity of the Co-Bleo may enhance the benefits of this procedure in the search for an undiagnosed primary, as well as undiagnosed local or distant metastases.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 529-537 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Laryngoscope |
Volume | 91 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 1981 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Otorhinolaryngology