Neck masses, especially in the setting of previous treatment for head and neck cancer, can be very complex to interpret.
There is no standardization of optimal upfront imaging, surveillance algorithms, or management recommendations.
In response, ACR formed a committee with two goals:
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Produce a lexicon to describe neck masses on CT, PET and MRI. Descriptive terms will be chosen after a literature review to maximize the ability to distinguish benign from malignant masses in two clinical scenarios:
- Patients with a new neck mass
- Patients with known head and neck cancer undergoing imaging surveillance
- Based on this lexicon, develop a standardized Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System (NI-RADS) risk stratification system to inform practitioners about which neck masses warrant biopsy in two clinical scenarios:
- Patients with a new neck mass
- Patients with known head and neck cancer undergoing imaging surveillance
