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Ultrasound Characteristics of Metastatic Occult Cervical Lymph Nodes in Early Tongue Cancer

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Abstract

Introduction: Identification of occult lymph node metastasis is challenging in early tongue cancers. We conducted a prospective study to determine the most characteristics ultrasonic feature suggestive of metastatic node. Material and Methods: A preliminary study based on feasibility was planned on twenty five patients with squamous cell carcinoma of tongue (T1,T2) and N0 neck underwent ultrasonography of neck. The results of each ultrasonic parameters (size, shape, echogenicity, margin and hilum) for suspicion were analysed. Pathologic evaluation of surgical resected neck specimen served as the reference standard. Results: USG yielded sensitivity and specificity by size, by morphology, either size or morphology are 50.0% and 87.5%, 75.0% and 87.5, 75.0 and 83.3% respectively. Morphology alone has highest negative predictive value (NPV:91.3%) with accuracy of 84.3%. Conclusion: Morphology of the lymph node had highest sensitivity and specificity with highest negative predictive value correlating with its metastatic nature.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery, AIIMS, New Delhi, 110029, India

    Rajeev Kumar, Rishikesh Thakur, Prem Sagar & Rakesh Kumar

  2. Department of Radiodiagnosis, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

    Smita Manchanda & Ashu Seith Bhalla

  3. Department of Head & Neck Oncology, AHPGIC, Cuttack, India

    Ashutosh Hota

  4. Department of Otolaryngology-Head Neck Surgery, KMC, Manipal, India

    K. Devaraja

  5. Department of ENT, Government Medical College, Kerala, India

    P. Mohammad Sherif

  6. Department of Biostatistics, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

    Maroof Ahmad Khan

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  1. Rajeev Kumar
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Correspondence to Rajeev Kumar.

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The study was approved was institute ethics committee (IEC/614/10/2017).

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Kumar, R., Manchanda, S., Hota, A. et al. Ultrasound Characteristics of Metastatic Occult Cervical Lymph Nodes in Early Tongue Cancer. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 75, 2786–2791 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-023-03881-4

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