The Correlation Between The Depth Of Invasion Measured By MRI And Cervical Lymphatic Metastasis Of Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective:The correlation between the Depth of invasion(DOI)measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)and cervical lymph node metastasis of tongue squamous carcinoma was analyzed to determine whether the depth of invasion measured by MRI could be used as a predictor of cervical lymph node metastasis of tongue squamous carcinoma.Methods:A total of 42 tongue squamous cell carcinoma patients admitted to the department of stomatology of the first hospital of shanxi medical university from April 2015 to January2019 were collected after screening by inclusion and exclusion criteria,including 17males(40%)and 25 females(60%),aged 32-83 years with an average age of 58 ± 14 years.The clinicopathological factors(tumor maximum diameter,invasion depth measured by MRI and differentiation degree)of tongue squamous cell carcinomapatients were reviewed.SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the difference in the measurements of depth of invasion between patients with and without cervical lymph node metastasis,and to calculate and predict the optimal cutoff value of depth of invasion for cervical lymph node metastasis.Results:Among the 42 patients,14(33%)were positive for postoperative pathological cervical lymph node metastasis(pN+)and 28(67%)were negative for cervical lymph node metastasis(pN0).Univariate Logistic regression results of the factors related to cervical lymph node metastasis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma showed that the invasion depth measured by MRI were significantly correlated with cervical lymph node metastasis(P < 0.05),while the maximum tumor diameter and tumor differentiation degree were not significantly correlated with cervical lymph node metastasis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma.The mean invasion depth of 14 patients with pN+ measured by MRI was 13.5±3.2mm,and that of 28 patients with pN0 measured was 8.9±4.7mm,showing a significant difference(P=0.001).ROC curve was used for statistical analysis of the data.The cutoff value of invasion depth measured by MRI was 8.25 mm for prediction of cervical lymphatic metastasis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma.Conclusion:The depth of invasion measured by MRI was an important predictor of cervical lymphatic metastasis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma.When the invasion depth measured by MRI was greater than 8.25 mm,there was an increased risk of cervical lymph node metastasis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma.