Ultrasound elastography as a potential diagnostic aid in oral submucous fibrosis

Abstract

Background:Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a well-recognized “potentially malignant” disorder. It mostly affects the productive population of young adults and adolescents. The diagnosis of oral submucous fibrosis is primarily clinical and subjective. The only objective diagnostic method for OSMF is tissue biopsy. This study was conducted to find the potential use of ultrasound elastography to objectively quantify the clinical presentation in accordance with severity of the clinical condition in OSMF.Materials and Methods:The study sample consisted of 27 clinically diagnosed and staged participants with OSMF. Transcutaneous ultrasonography was done by a single operator on GE Logiq E9 machine with a 6–15 MHz linear matrix probe. Color-coded scheme was used to qualitatively grade the eight different zones of oral mucosa with the use of stress–strain elastography. The grades ranged from 0 to 5, where 0 represented artifacts and color range from red to blue corresponded to varying degree of increasing tissue stiffness. Clinical stage 1, 2, and 3 corresponded to mouth opening of >30 mm, 20–30 mm, and <20 mm, respectively. The summative elastography score range as follows: 8–10, 11–14, and ≥15 represented the respective degree of tissue stiffness from soft, mild stiff to severe stiff.Results:The results obtained by Pearson's correlation between the elastographic grading and clinical grading came out to be 0.007, and it was highly significant. The sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic method were 90.9% and 20%, respectively.Conclusion:The advantages of ultrasound elastography as a diagnostic tool over the subjective clinical method of diagnosis and staging of OSMF looks promising. Further studies should be conducted with a suitable specific transducer probe and with quantitative diagnostic elastography method.

Elastosonography– A revisited novel facet in dentistry

“…Mukul SK et al, 31 in 2019 carried out a study to see whether ultrasonic elastography could be used to measure clinical presentation objectively in relation to the severity of OSMF clinical condition. There were 27 clinically analysed and staged OSMF subjects in the study sample.…”

Research Achievements of Oral Submucous Fibrosis: Progress and Prospect

“…It was reported OSMF-associated oral cancer usually presents regional invasive and advanced manifestations, and it is a challenge for clinicians to detect OSMF early malignant changes. Currently, noninvasive diagnostic methods are emerging in the diagnosis of oral precancerous lesions [ 44 ]. It can be assumed whether these noninvasive methods can be used for the early diagnosis of OSMF-associated oral cancer, including liquid biopsy, noninvasive optics, cell CT scan, ultrasound elastography, and skin/mucosa CT, and whether they can replace traditional biopsy for OSMF diagnosis in the future.…”