A novel visualization approach on a 64-row multidetector CT perfusion in the early detection of subclinical cervical lymph node metastases

我们评估了6例口腔癌患者的CT灌注在早期检测亚临床淋巴结转移中的临床应用。使用64排多排CT扫描仪进行CT灌注检查，并使用专用软件（ziostation 2）计算灌注参数（单室动力学模型：SC Flow，去卷积方法：BF，BV和MTT）。临床阴性的8个最小直径为10 mm或更小的淋巴结入组本研究，其中7个经组织病理学检查证实为转移性淋巴结。在上述参数中，3个转移性淋巴结的SC血流值与同颈水平的良性对侧淋巴结相比下降了50%。我们认为，这种“低灌注”现象可能是一个新的诊断标准，在小转移性淋巴结没有已知的证据转移的CT灌注研究。

We estimated the clinical utility of the CT perfusion in the early detection of subclinical lymph node metastases in six patients with oral cancer. CT perfusion examination was performed using a 64-row multidetector CT scanner and the perfusion parameters (single compartment kinetic model: SC Flow, deconvolution method: BF, BV and MTT) were calculated with dedicated software (ziostation2). Clinically negative eight lymph nodes with a minimal diameter of 10 mm or less were enrolled in this study and seven of them were proved to be metastatic by histopathological examination. Among with the above-mentioned parameters, SC flow value of three metastatic nodes showed a 50 % decrease compared to that of the benign contralateral lymph nodes in the same neck level. We deemed that this "hypoperfusion" phenomenon might be one of the novel diagnostic criteria in the small metastatic lymph nodes without known evidence of metastases on the CT perfusion study.