Determination of posterolateral oropharyngeal wall thickness and the potential implications for transoral surgical margins in tonsil cancer.
Head Neck
; 43(7): 2185-2192, 2021 07.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33780072
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Margins in transoral surgery for tonsil cancer can be limited by oropharyngeal wall thickness (OWT), but the normal range is not well established.METHODS:
In 240 noncancer subjects, OWT was measured bilaterally in the vicinity of the tonsils with MRI. Statistical analysis was performed to assess for interaction of age, sex, location, and obesity.RESULTS:
Mean(SD) OWT measured 3.4(0.6) mm posteriorly, 3.7(2.0) mm between the styloglossus and stylopharyngeus, and 5.3(0.8) mm laterally. OWT was greater in men, correlated with obesity, decreased posteriorly and laterally in the 60-80 versus 40-59 year age groups, and increased when styloglossus/stylopharyngeus were closer. OWT was <5 mm in 36.7%-97.9% of locations, with the largest percentage below this threshold located posteriorly.CONCLUSIONS:
OWT is frequently <5 mm, particularly in the posterior and intermuscular areas, suggesting that a smaller surgical margin may need to be accepted in transoral tonsil cancer surgery for anatomic reasons.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Oropharyngeal Neoplasms
/
Tonsillar Neoplasms
/
Robotic Surgical Procedures
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Head Neck
Journal subject:
NEOPLASIAS
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States