Mandibular involvement diagnostic capacity of four imaging modalities in patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Mandibular bone resection in patients suffering from oral squamous cell
carcinoma (OSCC) is a challenging and crucial decision requiring precise diagnosis.
Selecting the most suitable imaging system is one of the essential paraclinical records with
this regard. Objective: In this study we attempted to compare the accuracy of four routine
imaging modalities in pre-surgical diagnosis of mandibular bone involvement due to OSCC.
Methods and Materials: In this descriptive retrospective in-vivo study, 67 patients
diagnosed with peri-mandibular OSCC undergone marginal or segmental mandibular bone
resection were included. The final pathology reports of mandibular resections were
considered as the gold standard for diagnosis of mandibular involvement by tumor. The
reports of the four imaging modalities: panoramic view, bone scintigraphy, computed
tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were compared based on the
clinical observations and pathological reports.
Results: MRI had the best diagnostic power and accuracy (with 100% positive predictive
value) among the four imaging modalities. No false positive results was revealed in CT and
MRI groups.
Conclusion: Although MRI is known to be more accurate in assessment of soft tissue rather
than hard tissue, the result of the current study, considering all the limitations revealed that
mandibular hard tissue involvement could be determined more efficiently by MRI in tumor
involvement cases compared to other imaging methods.