Rampant Cystic Metastases From Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma on 18 F-FDG PET/CT : A Rare Clinical Presentation Showing Interplay of Inflammation and Malignancy.

Patients with advanced-stage squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of tongue often have a poor long-term prognosis, despite advances in diagnosis and management. Imaging is pivotal for staging, restaging and assessing treatment response in these malignancies. To improve patient outcomes, in addition to the commonly used TNM staging, it is crucial to investigate new indicators for prognosis prediction and to inform treatment therapy, which usually occurs before or in synchrony with structural changes. Peripheral blood cell counts of neutrophils and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) can presumptively prognosticate and alert the physicians regarding the higher chances of metastases.