The use of bioimpedance in the detection/screening of tongue cancer.
Oral cancers are the 11th most common malignancy reported worldwide, accounting for 3% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases, and one with high mortality ratios among all malignancies. The objectives of this study were therefore to study the electrical properties of cancerous tongue tissue and normal tongue tissue, as well as to investigate a new approach for low-cost, noninvasive, and real-time screening of oral cancer. Twelve tongue cancer patients and twelve healthy subjects participated in this study. A disposable probe with four silver electrodes was used to measure the electrical properties of patient's and healthy subject's tongue tissues at six different frequencies, which were 20Hz, 50kHz, 1.3MHz, 2.5MHz, 3.7MHz and 5MHz. The amplitude of the applied voltage was limited to 200mV. Four measurement parameters of impedance, phase angle, real part of impedance, and imaginary part of impedance of tongue were assessed to see if significant difference in values obtained in patient's and healthy subject's tongue tissues existed. Intraclass correlation coefficient showed that all measurements had good reliability and validity (ICC>0.95 for all measurements). Significant differences were found at 20Hz (p<0.05-0.001 for the four measurement parameters) and 50kHz (p<0.001 for the four measurement parameters) between patient's and healthy subject's tongue tissues. In conclusion, bioimpedance at a particular frequency is a potentially promising technique for tongue cancer screening.
Sun
Tai-Ping
TP
Graduate Institute of Biomedicine and Biomedical Technology, National Chi Nan University, Nantou, Taiwan.
Ching
Congo Tak-Shing
CT
Cheng
Chi-Sheng
CS
Huang
Su-Hua
SH
Chen
Yi-Juai
YJ
Hsiao
Chin-Sung
CS
Chang
Ching-Haur
CH
Huang
Shiow-Yuan
SY
Shieh
Hsiu-Li
HL
Liu
Wei-Hao
WH
Liu
Chia-Ming
CM
Chen
Chung-Yuan
CY
D001823:Body Composition; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D010992:Plethysmography, Impedance; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*