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 post-treatment 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 18F-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 18F-FDG PET/CT images revealed the exact recurrence or remission. Therefore, 18F-FDG PET/CT exhibits a better sensitivity and specificity for evaluating the response to combined treatment compared to CT and/or MRI.
Keywords: computed tomography; magnetic resonance imaging; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; positron emission tomograpy.