CT surveillance of the thorax in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: a preliminary experience.

PURPOSE: Our goal was to determine the number of malignancies detected by thoracic CT in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) in three clinical settings.

METHOD: We retrospectively examined 168 thorax CT scans in 93 patients with head and neck SCCA and determined the number of malignancies (second primary cancers or metastasis) (a) at the time of diagnosis of the primary neck tumor (57 patients), (b) at approximately yearly intervals following treatment of the primary cancer (93 examinations in 43 patients), and (c) at the time of local/regional recurrence of the neck neoplasm (18 patients).

RESULTS: CT detected malignancy in 9 of 57 patients examined during diagnosis of the neck tumor, in 9 of 43 patients during follow-up, and in 6 of 18 patients evaluated at the time of local/regional neck recurrence.

CONCLUSION: Chest CT demonstrates a high number of additional malignancies in patients presenting with advanced SCCA of the head and neck.