Interobserver Variability in Chest CT and Whole Body FDG-PET Screening for Distant Metastases in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Purpose The aim of the study was to assess the interobserver variability in chest computed tomography (CT) and whole body 2-deoxy-2-[ 18 F]fluoro- d -glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) screening for distant metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Procedure C...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular imaging and biology 2011-04, Vol.13 (2), p.385-390
Main Authors: Senft, Asaf, de Bree, Remco, Golding, Richard P., Comans, Emile F. I., Van Waesberghe, Jan-Hein T. M., Kuik, J. Dirk, Hoekstra, Otto S., Leemans, C. René
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Head and Neck Neoplasms - epidemiology
Head and Neck Neoplasms - pathology
Humans
Imaging
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Metastasis - diagnostic imaging
Observer Variation
Positron-Emission Tomography
Radiography, Thoracic
Radiology
Research Article
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Whole Body Imaging
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Summary:Purpose The aim of the study was to assess the interobserver variability in chest computed tomography (CT) and whole body 2-deoxy-2-[ 18 F]fluoro- d -glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) screening for distant metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Procedure Chest CT and whole body FDG-PET of 69 HNSCC patients with high-risk factors who underwent screening for distant metastases were analyzed. All scans were independently read by two experienced radiologists or nuclear physicians who were blinded to the other examinations and follow-up results. Results A kappa of 0.516 was found for assessment of size on CT. Kappa values for origin and susceptibility of 0.406 and 0.512 for CT and 0.834 and 0.939 for PET were found, respectively. The overall conclusions had a kappa of 0.517–0.634 for CT and 0.820–1.000 for PET. Conclusions In screening for distant metastases in HNSCC patients with high-risk factors, chest CT readings had a reasonable to substantial agreement, while PET readings showed an almost perfect agreement. These findings suggest that for optimal assessment in clinical practice, PET most often can be scored by one observer, but CT should probably more often be scored by different observers in consensus or combined with PET.
ISSN:1536-1632
1860-2002
DOI:10.1007/s11307-010-0354-5