Use of the 2-μm continuous wave thulium laser for the resection of oral squamous cell carcinomas does not impair pathological assessment.

Background And Objective: Current resection modalities for oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) vary from cold steel over CO2 laser to monopolar electro-surgery (MO). We compared thulium laser (TL) as a new modality with MO with regards to pathological assessment.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Forty-two patients who were treated for OSCC by either TL or MO were included. All resected specimens were assessed with special attention to margin interpretation and thermal damage.

Results: Depth of thermal damage ranged from 1.0 to 3.5 mm in the TL group compared to 1.0-4.0 mm in the MO group without interfering with the pathological assessment. The percentage of positive margin resections was three times higher in the MO group compared with the TL group.

Conclusions: This study shows resections done by TL do not impair pathological assessment when compared to MO resections.