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PET imaging at diagnosis improves oropharyngeal cancer outcomes

Publish date:: May 16, 2019

Key clinical point: For patients with oropharyngeal cancer, initial staging with PET imaging is associated with better cancer-specific survival than staging with other imaging modalities.

Major finding: Patients who underwent PET at diagnosis had a 3-year overall survival rate of 56.8%, compared with those who had MRI without PET (50.1%) or CT alone (47.3%).

Study details: A retrospective analysis of 1,765 patients with oropharyngeal cancer who had imaging performed at diagnosis.

Disclosures: The study was funded by the University of Colorado Cancer Center. One coauthor reported relationships with the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Citation:

Morgan RL et al. Cancer. 2019 May 1. doi:10.1002/cncr.32148.

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