Intraoral ultrasound to measure tumor thickness and depth of invasion in oral cancer: narrative review
Aim. Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) tends to invade the surrounding tissue and to metastasize to the regional neck lymph nodes (local metastasis), while its incidence of haematogenous metastasis (distant metastesis) is infrequent and late. For this reason, the surgical treatment of the primary tumor cannot be considered complete without the neck evaluation. Regarding the TNM staging system, neck dissection is recommended in T3, T4 lesions and/or with also preoperative positive neck involvement.