Methylene Blue Staining Test in Assessing Disease Free Margins in Head and Neck Cancers

Despite remarkable advancements in medicine, cancers remain one of the most challenging pathologies for doctors. Head and neck neoplasms especially raise serious management problems due to the often advanced stage at the moment of diagnosis, associated with difficult curative interventions that impose significant changes in the quality of life of patients. Whenever possible, a complete removal of the tumor with disease free margins significantly increases the rate of survival. During surgery, assessing the limit of resection up to healthy tissue is crucial in order to attempt a curative intervention. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of the methylene blue staining test in assessing the margins of resection during interventions for head and neck cancers.