Ultrasonography – A diagnostic modality for oral and maxillofacial diseases

BACKGROUND: Many diseases present themselves in oral and maxillofacial regions and various modalities may be applied for their diagnosis, including intraoral and panoramic radiography, ultrasonography (USG), computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine methods such as positron emission tomography. Of these modalities, USG is easy to-use for the detection of non-invasive and soft tissue related diseases in oral and maxillofacial regions. USG plays an important role in analyzing normal and abnormal structures. In particular, in oral and maxillofacial regions, the USG may be clinically applied to evaluate lymph nodes, subcutaneous, and oral cavity-related diseases. AIMS: The aim was to correlate the findings of USG and histopathology for the diagnosis of oral and maxillofacial pathology and to evaluate whether USG can be used as an adjunct in diagnosing oral and maxillofacial pathology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 10 clinically diagnosed patients with intraoral cancerous growths, swellings in maxillary and neck region were included in this study. Incision biopsy was obtained for confirming provisional clinical diagnosis. The selected cases were advised USG. All patients were then posted either for hemi-glossectomy, hemi-mandibulectomy, and partial maxillectomy with or without radical neck dissection. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Student's t-test and coefficient of correlation was used to statistically analyze significant relationship of both the methods. RESULT: In all 10 cases, USG correlated well with histopathology findings, it could also delineate tumor extent and measure tumor thickness. CONCLUSION: USG is an excellent method for the diagnosis of soft tissue lesions and can be used as an adjunct in diagnosing oral and maxillofacial pathology.