Accuracy of MRI to measure and evaluate clinical staging of oral squamous cell carcinoma

doi:10.19438/j.cjoms.2023.04.012

Abstract

Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for measuring and assessing the clinical staging of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS: A total of 71 patients with OSCC in The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China from February 2020 to September 2022 were enrolled. The MRI measurements of maximum tumor diameter(MTD), depth of invasion(DOI), and maximum cut sections were recorded, pathological sections were made on the sections, the pathological MTD and DOI were measured and statistically analyzed, and the cervical lymph node status assessed by MRI was compared with the postoperative pathological lymph node status to analyze the accuracy of preoperative MRI measurements and clinical staging. SPSS 26.0 software package was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The mean DOI measured on the MRI was 2.54 mm(95%CI: 3.56-1.53, P<0.05), higher for Gd-T1WI sequence, with correlation coefficient r=0.984; the mean DOI measured on T2WI sequence was 3.09 mm(95%CI: 4.88-1.29, P<0.05) higher, with correlation coefficient r=0.953. Bland-Altman dot plots showed that the measurements of Gd-T1WI sequence were more consistent with pathological DOI values. At the same time, the clinical measurements of MTD were 0.85 cm (95%CI: 0.78-0.91, P<0.05), higher than the histologic findings, with correlation coefficient r of 0.958; the MRI measurements of MTD were 0.21 cm(95%CI: 0.10-0.32, P<0.05), higher than the histologic findings, with correlation coefficient r of 0.878. The MTD measured by MRI was significantly lower than that measured by clinical visualization. The preoperative assessment of cervical lymph node status by MRI was true-positive in 69.6% and true-negative in 89.6% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: MRI has a high accuracy in measuring clinical stage in patients with OSCC and can be used as a reliable reference method for assessing clinical stage.

Key words: Magnetic resonance imaging, Oral squamous cell carcinoma, Pathologic examination, Depth of invasive, Maximum tumor diameter, Lymphatic metastasis

CLC Number:

R739.8

SI Cheng-yun, LIU Meng-qiu, WENG Hai-yan, ZHANG Li-yu, AN Xing-fei, ZHOU Yu. Accuracy of MRI to measure and evaluate clinical staging of oral squamous cell carcinoma[J]. China Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2023, 21(4): 390-396.

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