title: Pilot study of intraoperative digital imaging with the use of a mammograph for assessment of bone surgical margins in the head and neck region.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate alternative possibilities for the intraoperative evaluation of surgical margins after bone resection utilizing more conventional hospital infrastructure technologies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A small pilot study was performed using digital mammograph imaging intraoperatively on 16 surgical specimens of bone tumours or malignancies with bone infiltration of the head and neck area, with the aim of evaluating the resection margins.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In thirteen cases the intraoperative specimen images indicated clinically complete excision. In two cases incomplete resection or close proximity of margins was detected, which required additional resection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicated that intraoperative specimen radiography can prove useful in evaluating completeness of excision. The significance of intraoperative assessment of surgical margin is of paramount importance when immediate reconstruction is performed. This proposed method is cheap, easy to perform and fast. Its cost-benefit ratio is superior than that of any other available technique. Intraoperative analysis of specimens with digital mammography imaging can potentially become a useful tool for immediate evaluation of osseous margins after resection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Theagenion Cancer Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ntomouchtsis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xinou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patrikidou
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paraskevopoulos
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kechagias
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsekos
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Balis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerasimidou
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thuau
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mangoudi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vahtsevanos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D008297:Male; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies