ArticleAJNR. American journal of neuroradiology2020
Posttreatment Imaging in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer without Clinical Evidence of Recurrence: Should Surveillance Imaging Extend Beyond 6 Months?
Article in AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Does Long-Term Surveillance Imaging Improve Survival in Patients Treated for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma? A Systematic Review of the Current Evidence.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of NI-RADS for prediction of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.La Radiologia medica · 2024Pooled it
- Early and late mortality among patients with T1-T3 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a machine learning analysis using a SEER population-based cohort study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Elongated inflamed uvula mimicking early recurrence on planning CT in post-laryngectomy laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma: a diagnostic pitfall in adjuvant radiotherapy.Oxford medical case reports · 2026Article
- Surveillance after treatment for head and neck cancer.Current opinion in otolaryngology & head and neck surgery · 2026Review
- NI-RADS in posttreatment head and neck cancer surveillance: a framework for standardized imaging with clinical impact.Cancer imaging : the official publication of the International Cancer Imaging Society · 2026Review
- 3-year overall survival benefit of systematic follow-up with 18F-FDG PET/CT in asymptomatic patients treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter study.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- Comparison of surveillance modalities in the surveillance of sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma recurrence: A multi-institutional study.International forum of allergy & rhinology · 2025Article
- Post-treatment surveillance imaging in head and neck cancer: a systematic review.Insights into imaging · 2024Review
- An Intensive 18F-Fludeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography With Computed Tomography-Based Strategy of Follow-Up in Patients Treated for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Who Are Clinically Asymptomatic.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Surveillance Imaging with PET/CT and CT and/or MRI for Head and Neck Cancer and Mortality: A Population-based Study.Radiology · 2023Article
- Adding MR Diffusion Imaging and T2 Signal Intensity to Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System Categories 2 and 3 in Primary Sites of Postsurgical Oral Cavity Carcinoma Provides Incremental Diagnostic Value.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2022Article
- Interrater Reliability of NI-RADS on Posttreatment PET/Contrast-enhanced CT Scans in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Radiology. Imaging cancer · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeEarly detection of residual or recurrent disease is important for effective salvage treatment in patients with head and neck cancer. Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines do not recommend standard surveillance imaging beyond 6 months unless there are worrisome signs or symptoms on clinical examination and offer vague guidelines for imaging of high-risk patients beyond that timeframe. Our goal was to evaluate the frequency of clinically occult recurrence in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with positive imaging findings (Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems scores of 2-4), especially after 6 months. MATERIALS AND
methodsThis institutional review board-approved, retrospective data base search queried neck CT reports with Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems scores of 2-4 from June 2014 to March 2018. The electronic medical records were reviewed to determine outcomes of clinical and radiologic follow-up, including symptoms, physical examination findings, pathologic correlation, and clinical notes within 3 months of imaging.
resultsA total of 255 cases, all with Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems scores of 2 or 3, met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-nine patients (23%) demonstrated recurrence (45 biopsy-proven, 14 based on clinical and imaging progression), and 21 patients (36%) had clinically occult recurrence (ie, no clinical evidence of disease at the time of the imaging examination). The median overall time to radiologically detected, clinically occult recurrence was 11.4 months from treatment completion.
conclusionsImaging surveillance beyond the first posttreatment baseline study was critical for detecting clinically occult recurrent disease in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. More than one-third of all recurrences were seen in patients without clinical evidence of disease; and 81% of clinically occult recurrences occurred beyond 6 months.
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