To examine the role of positron emission tomography (PET) with labeled flourodeoxyglucose (FDG) in patients with primary neoplasms of the head and neck. Between 9/92 and 9/94, forty-four FDG PET scans were performed on 27 patients with head and neck neoplasms. FDG uptake at the tumor sites was quantified with standardized uptake values (SUV).