Abstract:

Objective To analyze the value of diagnosis and application of ultrasonography （USG）， contrast-enhanced CT and contrast-enhanced MRI on

metastatic neck lymph nodes in lingual squamous cell carcinoma. Methods Twenty-six patients with lingual squamous cell carcinoma confirmed by pathology were

enrolled in this study. The neck dissection zones were divided into 152 levels， and the metastatic lymph nodes were detected by USG， contrast-enhanced CT and contrast-enhanced MRI. The results were compared with pathologic data. Results Among the 152 levels， 83 positive lymph nodes were detected out of 1037 lymph nodes. Contrast-enhanced CT showed 28 positive levels， among which 15 were true positive； contrast-enhanced MRI detected 28 positive levels， among which 18 were true positive； USG showed 34 positive levels， and 24 levels were true positive. The sensitivity of contrast-enhanced CT， contrast-enhanced MRI and USG were 31.9%， 38.3% and 50.1%； the specificity were 87.6%， 90.5% and 90.5%； the accuracy were 70.4%，74.3% and 78.3%， respectively. Conclusion USG， contrast-enhanced CT and contrast-enhanced MRI are useful for the diagnosis of metastatic neck lymph nodes of lingual squamous cell carcinoma， and USG can be regarded as the best choice.