Identification of Warthin tumor: magnetic resonance imaging versus salivary scintigraphy with technetium-99m pertechnetate

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of technetium-99m (Tc-99m) pertechnetate scintigraphy and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the diagnosis of Warthin tumor. Sixteen cases of Warthin tumor and 17 cases of non-Warthin tumor were examined by Tc-99m pertechnetate scintigraphy with lemon juice stimulation and MR imaging, including T1-weighted, T2-weighted, short inversion time inversion recovery, diffusion-weighted, and contrast-enhanced dynamic images. We used the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate diagnostic accuracy. The mean area under the ROC curves of MR imaging in the diagnosis of Warthin tumor (0.97) was higher than that of Tc-99m pertechnetate scintigraphy (0.88). Magnetic resonance imaging is more useful in the evaluation of Warthin tumor than Tc-99m pertechnetate scintigraphy.