Significance of Morphological and Functional Imaging in Assessment of Residual and Recurrent Disease in Head and Neck Carcinomas

Recent advances in therapeutic procedures and targeted agents in the treatment of Head and Neck Carcinoma (HNC) has resulted in increase in overall survival and disease-free survival. However, 15-50% of patients will still develop recurrent disease. Not only on-treatment patients but cancer survivors are also at high risk of developing second malignancies, of which one third occurring in the head and neck region. Increase in survival of these patients has in turn enhanced the detection chances of HNC recurrence which were normally not reported due to early mortality. For routine work-up, investigations like chest X-ray, Contrast Enhanced Computed Tomography (CECT) scan or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is done while Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan is recommended only in locally advanced disease. However, recent studies suggest that combining functional and morphological imaging with positron emission and computed tomography scan to be advantageous than individual imaging in detecting residual or recurrent lesion.