| This study is a retrospective study of a cohort of 1100 patients with oral or oropharyngeal carcinoma. The aim of this study is the optimization of the ultrasound selection criteria of lymph nodes. With the criteria currently used, we have found USgFNAC to be highly specific, approaching 100 %, and quite sensitive (75%) to detect palpably occult metastases. However, with the current criteria, which only include size, all lymph nodes with a size of at least 4 mm in the subdigastric region of the neck, and at least 3 mm in the rest of the neck are to be punctured. This means that many punctures performed on lymph nodes may prove to be negative for malignancy. In this study we will examine not only size criteria, but also laterality, aspect and behaviour of the lymph nodes. With the development of these more advanced criteria we aim to make a clear profile of the malignant lymph node thus avoiding unnecessary punctures and increasing the efficiency of the USgFNAC. |
