[Ultrasonographic study on the relationship between the thickness of squamous cell carcinoma of tongue and cervical lymph node metastasis].

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the correlation between the thickness of the tongue carcinoma and cervical lymph node metastasis obtained with ultrasonography.

Methods: The tumor thickness of 37 primary tongue cancers were measured in the sonogram by the intraoral ultrasonography. The cervical lymph nodes were scanned, and the number, size, internal echo, and blood stream were measured to evaluate the nature. SAS6.1 software package was used for Chi-square test, non-parametric test and Logistic regression.

Results: The tumor thickness measured before operation with ultrasonography and after operation from pathological sections was subjected to non-parameter Wilcox rank-sum test, P=0.2013, indicating that there was no significant difference between the mean thickness obtained from the two modalities. The tumor thickness and cervical lymph node metastasis were subjected to non-parameter rank correlation test, the Spearman r=0.6824, P<0.01, indicating that there were a positive correlation between the tumor thickness measured by ultrasonography scan and cervical lymph node metastasis. Logistic regression analysis also showed that the risk of metastasis of the neck lymph nodes increased with the increased thickness of the tumors.

Conclusions: The accuracy and sensitiveness of ultrasonography in measuring the tumor thickness and detection of cervical lymph metastases make it a promising pre-operative tool in staging the cancer and optimizing the treatment plan for the surgeons.