Abstract
Aim: To compare radiological [Computed Tomography (CT)] tumour and nodal dimensions in head and neck and oral cancer with post-operative pathological status and explore the ramifications associated with disparity.
Materials and Methods: This prospective analytical study was conducted on a cohort of 90 patients with operable oral and head and neck cancer. Forty patients with head and neck cancer and 50 oral cancer patients were radiologically evaluated pre-operatively and assigned a clinical tumour, node and metastasis (TNM) staging, which was subsequently compared with the corresponding pathological TNM components.
Results: A significant comparative disparity was seen in 38 [42%] patients with relation to T category. Pathologically larger tumour dimensions were evidenced in both categories. Sixteen oral cancer patients and 16 patients with head and neck cancer had greater than 30% increase in tumour dimensions in the post-operative pathological staging. This did achieve statistical significance [p= 0.00]. The specificity of CT scan in defining low-risk nodal volumes [cNo Neck] was 76% for oral cancers and 53.8% in head and neck cancer subjects. The rate of false positives for both categories was fairly high, i.e., 48% and 37.9%, respectively.
Conclusion: By theoretically extrapolating the inferences of this study to situations where radiotherapy would be the primary treatment, our findingswould draw caution towards considering overtly conservative/uniform clinical tumour dimensions and estimating intermediate nodal target volumes at risk solely on the basis of CT-based evaluation.
Keywords: Advanced Head and Neck cancer, Computed tomography, Clinical target volumes, IMRT, TNM.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Bindhu Joseph, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Radiotherapy, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Phone Number: +919845280651, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v6i11.107
