Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) of the tongue is the most common type of oral cavity cancer, and tumor depth of invasion (DOI) is an important prognostic factor. In this study, we investigated the accuracy of intraoral ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for assessing DOI in patients with OSCC. Histopathological measurement of DOI was used as a reference standard. We conducted a prospective study including patients planned for surgical treatment of OSCC in the tongue. The DOI was measured in an outpatient setting by intraoral ultrasound and MRI, and was compared to the histopathological DOI measurements. Bland–Altman analysis compared the mean difference and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for ultrasound and MRI, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test for significance. The correlation was evaluated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. We included 30 patients: 26 with T1 or T2 tumors, and 4 with T3 tumors. The mean difference from histopathology DOI was significantly lower for ultrasound compared to MRI (0.95 mm [95% LOA −4.15 mm to 6.06 mm] vs. 1.90 mm [95% LOA −9.02 mm and 12.81 mm], p = 0.023). Ultrasound also led to significantly more correct T-stage classifications in 86.7% (26) of patients compared to 56.7% (17) for MRI, p = 0.015. The Pearson correlation between MRI and histopathology was 0.57 (p < 0.001) and the correlation between ultrasound and histopathology was 0.86 (p < 0.001). This prospective study found that intraoral ultrasound is more accurate than MRI in assessing DOI and for the T-staging of oral tongue cancers. Clinical practice and guidelines should implement intraoral ultrasound accordingly.

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue is the most prevalent form of oral cavity cancer, with surgical intervention as the preferred method of treatment. Achieving negative or free resection margins of at least 5 mm is associated with improved local control and prolonged survival. Nonetheless, margins that are close (1–5 mm) or positive (less than 1 mm) are often observed in practice, especially for the deep margins. Ultrasound is a promising tool for assessing the depth of invasion, providing non-invasive, real-time imaging for accurate evaluation. We conducted a clinical trial using a novel portable 3D ultrasound imaging technique to assess ex vivo surgical margin assessment in the operating room. During the operation, resected surgical specimens underwent 3D ultrasound scanning. Four head and neck surgeons measured the surgical margins (deep, medial, and lateral) and tumor area on the 3D ultrasound volume. These results were then compared with the histopathology findings evaluated by two head and neck pathologists. Six patients diagnosed with tongue SCC (three T1 stage and three T2 stage) were enrolled for a consecutive cohort. The margin status was correctly categorized as free by 3D ultrasound in five cases, and one case with a “free” margin status was incorrectly categorized by 3D ultrasound as a “close” margin. The Pearson correlation between ultrasound and histopathology was 0.7 (p < 0.001), 0.6 (p < 0.001), and 0.3 (p < 0.05) for deep, medial, and lateral margin measurements, respectively. Bland–Altman analysis compared the mean difference and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for deep margin measurement by 3D ultrasound and histopathology, with a mean difference of 0.7 mm (SD 1.15 mm). This clinical trial found that 3D ultrasound is accurate in deep margin measurements. The implementation of intraoperative 3D ultrasound imaging of surgical specimens may improve the number of free margins after tongue cancer treatment.

Surgery is the primary treatment for tongue cancer. The goal is a complete resection of the tumor with an adequate margin of healthy tissue around the tumor.Inadequate margins lead to a high risk of local cancer recurrence and the need for adjuvant therapies. Ex vivo imaging of the resected surgical specimen has been suggested for margin assessment and improved surgical results. Therefore, we have developed a novel three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound imaging technique to improve the assessment of resection margins during surgery. In this research protocol, we describe a study comparing the accuracy of 3D ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and clinical examination of the surgical specimen to assess the resection margins during cancer surgery. Tumor segmentation and margin measurement will be performed using 3D ultrasound and MRI of the ex vivo specimen. We will determine the accuracy of each method by comparing the margin measurements and the proportion of correctly classified margins (positive, close, and free) obtained by each technique with respect to the gold standard histopathology.

The margin of the removed tumor in cancer surgery has an important influence on survival. Adjuvant treatments, prognostic complications, and financial costs are required when the pathologist observes a close/positive surgical margin. Ex vivo imaging of resected cancer tissue has been suggested for margin assessment, but traditional cross-sectional imaging is not optimal in a surgical setting. Instead, three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound is a portable, high-resolution, and low-cost method to use in the operation room. In this study, we aimed to investigate the accuracy of 3D ultrasound versus computed tomography (CT) to measure the tumor volume in an animal model compared to gross pathology assessment. The specimen was formalin fixated before systematic slicing. A slice-by-slice area measurement was performed to compare the accuracy of the 3D ultrasound and CT techniques. The tumor volume measured by pathological assessment was 980.2 mm³. The measured volume using CT was 890.4 ± 90 mm³, and the volume using 3D ultrasound was 924.2 ± 96 mm³. The correlation coefficient for CT was 0.91 and that for 3D ultrasound was 0.96. Three-dimensional ultrasound is a feasible and accurate modality to measure the tumor volume in an animal model. The accuracy of tumor delineation on CT depends on the soft tissue contrast.

Bone strain measurement is a case of interest and demanding task for osteogenic adaption responses. In this paper, a novel biocompatible optical sensor for the bone axial strain measurement was proposed. In case modern multilayer single mode WII type optical fibers are well designed, they exhibit superior characteristics compared to conventional metal strain gauges (SGs). Furthermore, they could be strong competitors for SGs based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) devices. In this study, mode field diameter (MFD) was selected as the indirect parameter for sensing task, which was totally a new approach. The strain sensitivity of 70.7733 pm/με was obtained. Moreover, temperature sensitivity was–3.0031 × 10^–6 pm/°C, which was negligible and removed the temperature compensation complexity for the sensor structure presented. The satisfactory property achieved for the designed sensor is as a result of multilayer fiber’s complicated structure as well as the design procedure based on evolutionary genetic algorithm (GA). In addition, the sensor demonstrated a reliable performance as its sensitivity was independent of the magnitude of the applied load.