ArticleMolecular imaging and biology2025
Background Tissue with Native Target Expression Can Determine Presence of Nodal Metastasis in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients Infused with Targeted Fluorescent Tracers.
Article in Molecular imaging and biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intraoperative Molecular Imaging Can Detect Large Nerve Perineural Invasion: A Case Report.Head & neck · 2026Article
- Porphyrin-lipid nanotheranostics for multimodal imaging of nodal disease in preclinical oral cancers.Theranostics · 2026Article
- Use of Dual-Modality Antibody Imaging for Assessment of Lymph Node Metastases in Head and Neck Cancer.Theranostics · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeSurvival and treatment intensity in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is determined by the presence of lymph node (LN) metastasis, and as a result surgical removal of potentially affected LN remains a mainstay practice. Fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) using targeted optical agents is an expanding field that shows great potential for aiding diagnosis of metastatic LN. Given variations in fluorescence background, a reference standard for regions of interest is necessary for cross patient comparison. The present study aims to determine whether tissue with native target expression can be used as a background to determine metastatic LN in patients with HNSCC infused with anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) targeted imaging agents. PROCEDURES: Twenty-two patients infused with panitumumab-IRDye800 or cetuximab-IRDye800 prior to surgery were included. Fluorescence imaging and analysis was performed on resected LNs (N = 843) using the submandibular glands (SMG) and skin as reference standard tissue with known EGFR antigen expression.
resultsSixteen patients (72.7%) had at least one positive LN on final pathology. The LN to SMG (LN/SMG) and LN to skin (LN/skin) ratios were significantly higher in metastatic LN compared to benign LN (p < 0.0001 for both). Using patient-specific ratios to determine an optimal LN/skin cutoff was the most sensitive (95.2%) and directly comparing the LN/skin ratio of all patients to determine a cutoff was the most specific (86.3%).
conclusionsIn HNSCC patients infused with a molecularly targeted fluorescent tracer, endogenous expression of the target antigen can be used as a reference standard to detect LN metastasis. Additionally, the performance of the background in determining metastatic LN can be improved by utilizing patient-specific reference standards.
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