Abdominal CT examinations for the scouting of distant metastasis (DM) of orofacial malignant tumors were retrospectively evaluated, for the purpose of establishing the standard way of examination. Out of 159 patients with oral malignancies, 247 abdominal CT examinations were performed for the purpose of scouting DM. During the examination, intravenous contrast enhancement (CE) was performed in 166 examinations. DM were detected in 13 patients (8.2%). DM were found in 6 at administration, and 8 were late DM. Nine DM were detected out of 166 (5.4%) examinations with CE, and 5 were detected out of 81 (6.2%) examinations without CE. In detecting the DM, no improvement was found by CE. DM attacked lungs in 13, mediastinum in 3, liver in 2, paraaortic lymph nodes in 1, chest wall in 1, and vertebra in 1. Only 2 patients with DM were free from cervical metastasis, and the remainder was combined with cervical metastasis, regardless the status of the primary sites. Conclusions: Abdominal CT was useful for detecting DM. Intravenous CE was not necessary for scouting the DM. Patients with cervical metastasis had a high potential for developing DM
