Reliability of MRI in Pre-Therapeutic Assessment of Tumor Depth Invasion in Oral Cavity Carcinoma

Abstract

ral cavity carcinoma accounts for 500,000 new cases every year contributing to 3% of all malignancies. Tongue is the most common site of intra-oral SCC, thus creating a significant health problem. Accurate loco-regional staging determines the appropriate treatment plan and subsequently favorable outcome and disease prognosis. The present study emphasized the importance of MR imaging as a valuable tool for carrying out the loco-regional staging of oral cavity cancers with an extreme degree of precision. This study included 20 patients (8 male and 12 female) patients. Conventional MRI, diffusion MRI and Dynamic contrast MRI were performed in terms of pre-operative assessment evaluating local tumor and regional nodal disease status. MRI staging was correlated to operative histopathological staging. Results of the study showed that the highest number of patients had tongue malignancy (about 90% of the patients). Contrast-enhanced T1W images help assess marrow inva¬sion, soft tissue extent, tumor thickness and best demon¬strate necrosis in nodes. MRI is also used to assess the extent of lymphadenopathy. It is used to assess the pres¬ence of occult metastatic lymph nodes. The extent of primary tumor (T) and metastasis to regional lymph nodes (N) was initially evaluated by MR imaging. The final diagnosis was made by histopathological examination. Kappa Index was used fo