Imaging

Key Information

Spread to adjacent tissues or organs; regional lymph nodes; sites of distant organs or lymph nodes involved.

Imaging studies are primarily performed for patients with stage III or stage IV disease.

• Chest X-Ray
  Patients with advanced disease or local recurrence should have a chest x-ray due to the fact that the lungs often are the first site of distant metastasis.
• Chest CT scan
  A chest CT scan should be included in the staging workup of a patient with advanced disease to detect asymptomatic metastases.
• Imaging, Abdomen/pelvis
  Abdomen: A CT scan of the abdomen often is obtained when evaluating a patient with advanced or locally recurrent disease. Pelvis: A CT scan of the pelvis is indicated only if a patient has local regional recurrence below the waist, is symptomatic, or has known metastatic disease with a history of primary tumors below the waist.
• Imaging, Bone
• Imaging, Brain
  A CT scan or MRI of the brain should be obtained during the workup of a patient with known distant metastases to detect additional asymptomatic metastatic disease.
• Imaging, Liver/spleen

For more information about imaging, you may visit the following pages in the Diagnostic Tests module: Other Imaging.