Intraoral sonography-assisted resection of T1-2 tongue cancer for adequate deep resection.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical usefulness of intraoral sonography-assisted resection for securing adequate deep resection margins in T1-2 tongue cancers. STUDY DESIGN Prospective clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty consecutive patients with clinical T1-2 tongue cancers were enrolled and their lesions were removed by intraoral sonography-assisted resection. We then retrospectively collected data from 20 T stage-matched patients without intraoral sonography-assisted resection as the control group. All resections were performed with a goal of 15 mm margin. The mucosal and deep safety margins were compared between the two groups. RESULTS Intraoral sonography could predict the paraffin-embedded tumor thickness with an error of 3.16 +/- 2.24 mm. The deep safety margins were more adequate for intraoral sonography-assisted resection (9.8 +/- 5.2 mm) than for conventional resection (4.0 +/- 2.03 mm) (P < 0.001), while the mucosal safety margins were not different. CONCLUSION Intraoral sonography-assisted resection provides a more adequate deep resection margin for early T-stage tongue cancers.