The Reliability of Ultrasonographic Assessment of Depth of Invasion: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

Depth of invasion (DOI) has been recognized to be a strong prognosticator for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Several diagnostic techniques can be employed for DOI assessment, however intraoral ultrasonography has been increasingly applied for the intraoral evaluation of OSCCs. The aim of the present study is to review the evidence on the application of intraoral ultrasonography to the assessment of DOI in patients affected by OSCC. A systematic electronic and manual literature search was performed, and data from eligible studies were reviewed, selected, and extracted. The studies had to report the correlation between DOI estimated with ultrasonography versus histopathology. A meta-analysis was conducted on the quantitative data available. Sixteen articles were included in the review following the screening of the initial 228 studies retrieved from the literature. The meta-analysis showed a significant correlation between ultrasonographic and histopathologic measurements (p < 0.01). The studies were all at low/moderate risk of bias. Ultrasonography appears a valuable tool for DOI assessment.