Intraoperative surgical clearance confirmation of tongue carcinomas using ultrasound.
OBJECTIVE
The existence of tumour cells on the surgical margin can be shown in frozen sections. However, there has been no method to obtain information about surgical clearance intraoperatively. We propose a simple method to confirm the surgical clearance of tongue carcinomas during surgery.


METHODS
Just after the resection of a tumour in a conventional manner, the resected fresh specimen was immersed in a gelatine solution, maintaining its original shape and orientation, and refrigerated for solidification of the gelatine. Then ultrasound observation of the gelatine-embedded specimen was performed from the surface of the gelatine.


RESULTS
Very fine images could be obtained easily and without any specialist skills.


CONCLUSIONS
With this method, the operator can easily obtain information about surgical clearance during the operation.
Tominaga
K
K
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kyushu Dental College, 2-6-1, Manazuru, Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyushu 803-8580, Japan. tominaga@kyu-dent.ac.jp
Yamamoto
K
K
Khanal
A
A
Morimoto
Y
Y
Tanaka
T
T
Kodama
M
M
Fukuda
J
J
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005780:Gelatin; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D012034:Refrigeration; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018084:Ultrasonography, Interventional
D005780:Gelatin