Background: Pretreatment positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to be useful for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) after definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a matched cohort of 116 patients with HNSCC that underwent CRT treatment at our institution. Pretreatment PET was performed in 58 patients and omitted in the other 58 patients. The 2 cohorts were matched for T classification, N classification, primary site, and smoking history. Kaplan-Meier 2-year estimates of local control (LC), regional control (RC), freedom from distant metastasis (FFDM), cause-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) were compared with log-rank tests.
Results: There were no differences between the 2 cohorts for 2-year endpoints of LC, RC, FFDM, CSS, and OS. On multivariate analysis pretreatment PET imaging did not influence any endpoint.
Conclusions: PET imaging before definitive CRT may not significantly improve outcomes in patients with HNSCC.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.