Abstract #1230

Characterization of Head and Neck Tumors in a Simultaneous Whole-Body MR/PET Scanner Using Diffusion-Weighted Imaging and FDG-PET

Christina Schraml¹, Petros Martirosian², Cornelia Brendle¹, Holger Schmidt¹,³, Mark Mueller⁴, Claus D. Claussen, Christina Pfannenberg¹, Nina F. Schwenzer¹

¹Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Department of Radiology, Tuebingen, BW, Germany; ²Section on Experimental Radiology, University Department of Radiology, Tuebingen, BW, Germany; ³Laboratory for Preclinical Imaging and Imaging Technology of the Werner Siemens-Foundation, Department of Radiology, Tuebingen, BW, Germany; ⁴Nuclear Medicine, University Department of Radiology, Tuebingen, BW, Germany

The acquisition of diffusion-weighted images in a simultaneous hybrid 3 T MR/PET scanner provides diagnostic image quality for the assessment of head and neck cancer. Primary tumors and lymph node (LN) metastases significantly differed regarding standardized uptake values (SUV) in 18F-FDG-PET. However, no significant difference was found between primary tumors and LN metastases regarding apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC). The absence of significant correlation between ADC and SUV suggests that DWI and FDG-PET might provide complementary information for the characterization of head and neck cancer.