PURPOSE: To evaluate the feasibility of PET/MRI (positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging) with FDG ((18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose) for initial staging of head and neck cancer.

METHODS: The study group comprised 20 patients (16 men, 4 women) aged between 52 and 81 years (median 64 years) with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region. The patients underwent a PET scan on a conventional scanner and a subsequent PET/MRI examination on a whole-body hybrid system. FDG was administered intravenously prior to the conventional PET scan (267-395 MBq FDG, 348 MBq on average). The maximum standardized uptake values (SUV(max)) of the tumour and of both cerebellar hemispheres were determined for both PET datasets. The numbers of lymph nodes with increased FDG uptake were compared between the two PET datasets.

RESULTS: No MRI-induced artefacts where observed in the PET images. The tumour was detected by PET/MRI in 17 of the 20 patients, by PET in 16 and by MRI in 14. The PET/MRI examination yielded significantly higher SUV(max) than the conventional PET scanner for both the tumour (p < 0.0001) and the cerebellum (p = 0.0009). The number of lymph nodes with increased FDG uptake detected using the PET dataset from the PET/MRI system was significantly higher the number detected by the stand-alone PET system (64 vs. 39, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrated that PET/MRI of the whole head and neck region is feasible with a whole-body PET/MRI system without impairment of PET or MR image quality.