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

Abstract

Background Head and neck carcinomas account for 5% of all cancers, with approximately half of those arising from the oral cavity, thus creating a significant health problem. Accurate loco-regional staging determines the appropriate treatment plan and subsequently favorable outcome and disease prognosis. Patients & Methods 20 patients (12 females and 8 male) were included in this study. Conventional MRI, diffusion MRI and Dynamic contrast MRI were performed for local and nodal disease staging. MRI staging was correlated to operative histopathology as a reference standard. Diagnostic accuracy was estimated for MRI techniques. Results Results revealed high accuracy of MRI in local tumor and nodal staging. Conclusion MRI remains the cornerstone in loco-regional staging of tongue carcinoma. DCE-MRI is the most accurate MRI technique in evaluation of local extension and depth of invasion. Combination of DCE-MRI and DWI-MRI achieves highest accuracy for detection of regional nodal spread.