We evaluated glucose metabolism in three patients with oral cancer by Positron emission tomography (PET) using 18 F-fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG), to investigate the diagnostic usefulness of this method as compared with other imaging methods.
In one case, FDG-PET imaging detected a primary tumor area that could not be detect by other imaging methods. In two cases, quantitative analysis of FDG-PET by using standardized uptake value (SUV) was performed before and after radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment to evaluate the response to therapy. Both cases showed significant decreases in SUV in their tumors after treatment.
