The Impact of ¹⁸F-FDG PET CT Prior to Chemoradiotherapy for Stage III/IV Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Table 4

Summary of alterations in lymph node level involvement based on PET-CT (𝑛=22).

	Lymph node levels identified on clinical staging, MRI, and/or CT	Lymph node levels identified on PET-CT in combination with clinical staging, MRI, and/or CT	Alteration due to PET-CT
1	Right II	None	Downclassified equivocal LN
2	Left II, III, Right II	Left II, III	Downclassified equivocal contralateral level II LN
3	Left II, III	Left II, III, V	Identified sub-cm LN level V
4	Right II	Right II, III	Identified sub-cm LN level III
5	Left II, III, IV	Left II, III, IV, Right II	Identified contralateral 1 cm LN
6	Left II, Right II	Left II	Downclassified equivocal contralateral R II
7	None	RP	Identified RP involvement
8	Left II, IV	Left Ib, II, IV	Identified 1 cm LN level 1b
9	None	Right II, III. Left II, III	Identified bilat LN subcm
10	Left II, IV	Left II, III, IV	Identified 12 mm LN level III
11	Left II, III, IV, V, Right II	Left II, III, IV, V	Downclassified equivocal contralateral II
12	Right 1b-V	Right 1b-V, Left II	Identified equivocal contralateral level II
13	Right II, Left II	Right II	Downstages equivocal contralateral II
14	Right Ib, II, III Left Ib, II, III	Left II	Downstaged multiple equivocal LN
15	None	Right II, Left III	Identified sub-cm bilateral LN
16	None	Right III	Identified 2 sub-cm LN in level III
17	Right III	Right II, III	Identified 2 LN (1 cm) in level II
18	Right II, Left II, III	Right II, III, Left II, III, RP	Identified sub-cm LN level III and 13 mm RP LN
19	Right III	Right III, Left III	Identified 1 cm contralateral Level III
20	Left II, III, IV	Right II, left II, III, IV	Identified 1 cm contralateral level II
21	Right II, Left II	Right II, Left 1b, II	Identified 7 mm Ib
22	Right II, III, V	Right II, III, IV, V, Left RP	Identified sub-cm level IV and contralateral RP