The Correlation Between Preoperative Ultrasonography and Histopathological Characteristics in Lip Cancer

Abstract

Background
Lip cancer is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity and an important subset of head and neck cancers. Accurate preoperative assessment of tumor characteristics is critical for surgical planning and prognostic evaluation. Ultrasonography (USG), particularly color Doppler USG, has emerged as a noninvasive imaging modality for evaluating tumor size, depth of invasion, vascularity, and involvement of surrounding tissue. This study aimed to compare preoperative ultrasonographic findings with histopathological characteristics in patients with lip cancer.
Methods
Eighteen patients with histopathologically confirmed lip cancer who underwent preoperative color Doppler ultrasonography from November 2009 to May 2011 were retrospectively evaluated. Ultrasound measurements of tumor size, depth, epidermal and subepidermal involvement, muscle invasion, echogenicity, homogeneity, vascularity, and resistive index (RI) were recorded and compared with histopathological findings. The statistical analyses included Spearman correlation, Kruskal–Wallis, chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests.
Results
A significant positive correlation was observed between ultrasonographic and histopathological measurements of tumor size (p=0.004, r=0.45) and tumor depth (p=0.041, r=0.60). Ultrasonography demonstrated high sensitivity for detecting epidermal involvement (100%), subepidermal involvement (100%), and muscle invasion (92.3%). Most tumors were hypoechoic (92.3%), heterogeneous (61.1%), and showed peripheral arterial vascularization (88.8%). In patients with squamous cell carcinoma, higher RI values were associated with poorer differentiation (p=0.034), and tumor depth was significantly greater in moderately differentiated tumors (p=0.047). Tumor homogeneity was significantly associated with histopathological differentiation (p=0.030).
Conclusion
Color Doppler ultrasonography may be utilized as a diagnostic modality for the preoperative evaluation of lip cancers. It provides clinically useful information on tumor size, depth, vascularity, and tissue invasion and correlates significantly with histopathological findings. Ultrasonography may substantially contribute to surgical planning and prognostic assessment in lip cancers.

Authors

Ali Değirmenci, Peyker Temiz, Serdar Tarhan, Görkem Eskiizmir

Keywords

Lip cancer; Ultrasonography; Color Doppler ultrasonography; Histopathology: Squamous cell carcinoma. Tumor depth

Publication Information

Publication Date

June 3, 2026

Submission Date

May 28, 2026

Volume

1

Issue

2026-1

Year

2026

Pages

10-16

Language

English

Status

Published

Views

17

Downloads

0

DOI

10.67186/joafs.v1.i20261.2

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