Establishment of the sonogiaphic scanning techniques and diagnostic criteria of intraoral sonography for tongue squamous cell carcinoma

我们报道了正常舌粘膜的三层结构，即1)表层，2)粘膜层，3)粘膜下层和肌层，并讨论了三层结构的超声特征对评估舌鳞癌肿瘤侵袭性的临床意义。这项研究包括8名患者。术前检查使用小的HST探头。我们还使用了厚度为3 mm或10 mm的声偶联聚合物凝胶，以获得肿瘤的最佳测量结果。将超声结果与组织病理学结果进行了并行比较。在超声检查中，每个患者的浅表性癌都清楚地被解释为粘膜增厚。此外，定义不明确的…增厚的粘膜层下可见较多的低回声区。组织病理学上可见与低回声区相对应的炎性细胞浸润。2007年，我们试图建立舌鳞状细胞癌侵袭深度(肿瘤厚度)的诊断标准，以预测后续的淋巴结转移。这项研究包括了20名患者。我们的结论是，5 mm是预测后续淋巴结转移的最合适的分界点。若原发灶厚度大于5 mm则提示有淋巴结转移，其敏感性为82%，特异性为78%，准确性为80%。此外，我们推测增厚的粘膜层底部的血流信号可能是提示浅表性癌的特殊表现之一。较少

We have been reported the three-layer structure of normal tongue mucosa, i.e., 1) surface layer, 2) mucosal layer, 3) submucosal layer and muscle layers, demonstrated on intraoral sonography and discussed the clinical significance of the sonographic feature of the three-layer structure for evaluation of tumor invasion of the squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.In 2006, we investigated the characteristic findings of the superficial squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue demonstrated on intraoral sonography. Eight patients were included in the study. Preoperative examination was performed using small HST probes. We also used an acoustic coupling polymer gel with a thickness of 3 mm or 10 mm in order to obtain the optimal measurement of the tumor A side-by-side comparison was performed between the sonographic findings and the histopathological findings. On sonography, superficial carcinoma was clearly interpreted as a thickened mucosal layer in every patient. Additionally, an ill-defined … More hypoechoic area was also observed under the thickened mucosal layer. Histopathologically, inflammatory cellular infiltration was observed corresponding to the hypoechoic area. In some instances, the blood flow signal was observed at the bottom of the thickened mucosal layer on power Doppler imaging.In 2007, we tried to establish the diagnostic criteria of the depth of invasion (tumor thickness) of the tongue squamous cell carcinoma for the prediction of subsequent lymph node metastases. Twenty patients were included in the study. We concluded that 5 mm was the most appropriate cut-off for predicting subsequent lymph node metastases. If it is considered that a primary tumor thickness exceeding 5 mm indicates positive nodes, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for subsequent lymph node metastasis was 82, 78 and 80% respectively. Also, we speculated that blood flow signal at the bottom of the thickened mucosal layer might be one of the peculiar findings suggesting superficial carcinoma. Less