Clinical value of 18F‑fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in evaluating relapsed and refractory nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A case report

For patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), radiotherapy, chemotherapy and even targeted therapy are widely accepted treatments. These treatments, although they mostly achieve locoregional tumor control, they may also be associated with complex posttreat-ment changes, such as edema, loss of tissue planes, fibrosis, mucositis and scarring, which may interfere with the detection of local recurrence and the response to therapy. However, timely detection is crucial for deciding whether treatment modification or discontinuation is required. This is the case report of a 51-year-old nasopharyngeal carcinoma patient with cervical nodal metastases (CNM). Following radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy, multislice spiral enhanced computed tomography (CT), enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT of the neck were performed to compare the extent of the CNM. The enhanced CT and MRI images were unremarkable, whereas the F-18-FDG PET/CT images revealed the exact recurrence or remission. Therefore, F-18-FDG PET/CT exhibits a better sensitivity and specificity for evaluating the response to combined treatment compared to CT and/or MRI.