Background: To find out the role of Multidetector computed tomography in the evaluation of neck lesions.
Objective: (a) Localization and characterization of neck lesions with respect to anatomical plane delineation, extension to adjacent structures and bony involvement. b) To correlate the findings of MDCT of neck lesions with final diagnosis by histopathology/ surgical findings as applicable.
Methods: A prospective study was conducted over a period of 1year on 50 patients with suspected neck lesions were subjected to CECT (Multidetector CT) in our institution and the images were analyzed with respect to enhancement pattern, local invasion, bony involvement and venous thrombosis. A provisional diagnosis was made after CT scan and these findings were correlated with histopathology/ surgical findings as applicable.
Results: There were 20 malignant lesions and 30 benign lesions in our study. The imaging diagnosis of malignant and benign lesions was confirmed on histopathology and surgical findings as applicable. We had one false positive case in our study where one case of peritonsillar abscess was wrongly diagnosed as malignant lesion and one false negative case where a case of Buccal carcinoma recurrence was inaccurately diagnosed as only Post operative changes without recurrence. MDCT had an overall accuracy of 96%.
Conclusion: MDCT can be a very valuable tool in localizing and characterizing neck lesions and help in determining the accurate modality of treatment.
