Imaging features of sinonasal tumors on positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging including diffusion weighted imaging: A pictorial review

• Published in: Clinical imaging 2018-09, Vol.51, p.217-228
• Main Authors: Ozturk, Kerem, Gawande, Rakhee, Gencturk, Mehmet, Boegel, Kevin, Caicedo-Granados, Emiro, Cayci, Zuzan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Benign; Computed tomography; Diagnosis, Differential; Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Ethics; Female; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Head & neck cancer; Head and neck; Humans; Inflammation; Lesions; Lymphoma; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical imaging; Melanoma; Metabolism; Multimodal Imaging - methods; Multislice computed tomography; Neoplasms; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms - diagnosis; Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms - pathology; Paranasal sinus neoplasms; Patients; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography - methods; Positron-Emission Tomography - methods; Resonance; Sinuses; Tomography; Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods; Tumors
• ISSN: 0899-7071; 1873-4499
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2018.05.018

Sinonasal inflammatory conditions account for a major component of head and neck pathologies, whereas neoplasms involving the sinonasal region make up only 2–3% of all head and neck lesions. The symptoms of sinonasal tumors are nonspecific; imaging plays a critical role in distinguishing benign and malignant disease and may illustrate characteristic radiological features of specific sinonasal tumors. Aim was to determine the utilization of multimodality imaging, specifically the metabolic information provided by 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) and diffusivity characteristics seen with diffusion weighted images (DWI) of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in a wide range of benign and malignant sinonasal tumors drawn from over 200 sinonasal lesions from our institution and supplemented by the literature. In this pictorial essay, we have reviewed common imaging characteristics of frequently encountered in sinonasal tumors and divided them into benign and malignant categories to facilitate creation of focused differential diagnoses. •When evaluating sinonasal tumors, CT is ideal for evaluating bone changes.•MRI provides tissue characteristics which enables distinction of tumor from inflammatory tissue.•18F-FDG PET/CT provides substantial information regarding the tumor behavior.