Gallium-67 SPECT-CT for the evaluation of head and neck: preliminary study on maximum standardised uptake value in lesions, and in the parotid and submandibular glands

Makoto Oohashi; Hiroo Toshima; Kazuhide Hayama; Ichiro Ogura

doi:10.5114/pjr.2020.95458

Gallium-67 SPECT-CT for the evaluation of head and neck: preliminary study on maximum standardised uptake value in lesions, and in the parotid and submandibular glands

Pol J Radiol. 2020 May 6:85:e224-e229. doi: 10.5114/pjr.2020.95458. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Makoto Oohashi¹, Hiroo Toshima², Kazuhide Hayama², Ichiro Ogura²

Affiliations

¹ Dental Anaesthesia and General Health Management, The Nippon Dental University Niigata Hospital, Niigata, Japan.
² Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, The Nippon Dental University School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, Niigata, Japan.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the gallium-67 (⁶⁷Ga) single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT-CT) for the evaluation of head and neck, especially maximum standardised uptake value (SUV_max) in lesions, and in the parotid and submandibular glands.

Material and methods: Fourteen patients with head and neck lesions who underwent SPECT-CT at 72 hours after injection of ⁶⁷Ga were included in this study. The ⁶⁷Ga SPECT-CT parameters SUV_max were compared between the parotid glands and submandibular glands. Statistical analyses for the SUV_max were performed by Mann-Whitney U test. A p value lower than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results: Of all 14 patients, ⁶⁷Ga SPECT-CT was positive for two cases (one malignant lymphoma and one osteomyelitis). The SUV_max for malignant lymphoma and osteomyelitis were 11.21 and 10.95, respectively. Furthermore, SUV_max for parotid glands and submandibular glands of all patients were 4.86 ± 1.89 and 4.64 ± 1.64, respectively (p = 0.694).

Conclusions: This study investigated the ⁶⁷Ga SPECT-CT for the evaluation of head and neck, especially SUV_max of lesions, and the parotid and submandibular glands. ⁶⁷Ga SPECT-CT may be an effective technique for the evaluation of maxillofacial lesions.

Keywords: SPECT/CT; carcinoma; gallium radioisotopes; inflammation; salivary gland.