18F-FLT PET Does Not Discriminate Between Reactive and Metastatic Lymph Nodes in Primary Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Abstract

In head and neck cancer patients, (18)F-FLT PET showed uptake in metastatic as well as in nonmetastatic reactive lymph nodes, the latter due to reactive B-lymphocyte proliferation. Because of the low specificity, (18)F-FLT PET is not suitable for assessment of pretreatment lymph node status. This observation may also negatively influence the utility of (18)F-FLT PET for early treatment response evaluation of small metastatic nodes.