Abstract
We performed only excision of the primary tumors for 40 cases of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma. Delayed metastases occurred in 9 of the 40 cases （22.5%）.
In some Japanese facilities, the sentinel lymph nodes （SN） are identified using radioisotopes in clinical studies. In Europe and the United States, SN biopsy for early-stage head and neck cancers has been established as one of the standard treatment choices, whereas in Japan it has only been described in the Japanese Practice Guideline for Head and Neck Cancer （2018）.
We developed a contrast-enhanced ultrasonography （CEUS）-guided SN-detection method, and predicted the SN metastatic status using a novel ultrasound technology, Superb Microvascular Imaging （SMI）, as a Phase I study. Establishing the CEUS-guided SN-detection method and criteria for the accurate diagnosis of SN metastases using SMI would be valuable, and the methods would safely and certainly support our decision-making for neck dissection in the routine outpatient clinical setting.
