Determining Invasion Depth in Superficial Pharyngeal Carcinoma by Transoral Ultrasonography

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the clinical usefulness of transoral ultrasonography (US) in determining the invasion depth of superficial pharyngeal carcinoma (SPC). Determining the invasion depth of SPC is crucial for transoral surgery including determining treatment strategy. This study aimed to examine the usefulness of transoral US in determining the invasion depth of SPC.

Methods: Forty-six patients with 51 lesions who underwent both magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) and transoral US were included. The primary outcomes were the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV), and negative predictive values (NPV) of ME-NBI and transoral US findings for pathological tumor depth in SPCs.

Results: The accuracy (82.4%), sensitivity (85.2%), PPV (82.1%), and NPV (82.6%) rates of US for subepithelial propria (SEP) were higher than those of ME-NBI and macroscopic classification, indicating that transoral US is superior to ME-NBI in determining the invasion depth. All cases where the SEP was clearly invaded (SEP deep) could be diagnosed as SEP by transoral US.

Conclusions: Transoral US may be useful in determining the invasion depth of SPCs.

Level of evidence: 3 Laryngoscope, 133:2192-2197, 2023.

Keywords: depth of invasion; endoscopic laryngopharyngeal surgery (ELPS); small linear probe; superficial pharyngeal carcinomas (SPCs); transoral ultrasonography (transoral US).