It is well known that the surgical procedures for oral cancer may adversely affect the swallowing function. However, there has been no detailed evaluation of swallowing disorders among post-operative oral cancer patients.
This report describes a questionnaire survey of 372 institutions on the assessment and examination for swallowing disorders among post-operative oral cancer patients. The purpose is to make an evaluation standard for oral and maxillofacial surgeons and to make it possible to give feedback to patients.
Out of 194, 178 institutions (85.6%) stated that detailed evaluation of post-operative oral cancer patients is necessary.

View full abstract

Iodine staining of adherent gingiva (a keratinized epithelium) and oral cancer localized to the hard palate is difficult. Therefore, we examined whether infrared-absorbing indocyanine green (ICG) was effective in detecting the extent of T1/T2 gingival and hard palate cancers. All seven cancers (three T1 and two T2 gingival cancers, and two T1 hard palate cancers) showed a color reaction with ICG solution, allowing us to clearly determine the extent of the lesion on infrared images. High-and low-absorption areas on infrared images corresponded to cancerous and epithelial dysplasia areas, respectively. Immunohistochemical staining with polyclonal anti-albumin antibody was positive in cancerous areas and negative in normal squamous epithelium, suggesting that albumin in tumor tissue is involved in the mechanism of ICG staining. These results suggest that the combined use of ICG staining and infrared imaging is useful in detecting the extent of T1/T2 gingival and hard palate cancers.

View full abstract

We describe a difficult-to-diagnose case of lung carcinoma with metastasis to the mandible, based on clinical course, site of occurrence, and image accuracy. The patient was a 66-year-old female. She complained of dull pain for 1 month in the 5 6 region. She underwent tooth extraction and abrasion with a diagnosis of paradentitis. On first examination, only tenderness at the tooth extraction socket and the sclerotic change around the socket on orthopantomogram were observed, and no other lesion related to pain was found. Conservative therapy with antibiotics under alveolar osteitis did not relieve the pain. About 1 month later, she gradually developed deep pain. MRI showed a neoplastic lesion with a high signal occupying the mandibular ramus and infiltrating into the masseter muscle and the medial pterygoid muscle. Bone scintigraphy revealed multiple metastases. The biopsy diagnosis was lung carcinoma with metastasis to the mandible. In this case, there were no clinical findings except for pain, even though the tumor occupied the mandibular ramus. In cases with pain, highly accurate diagnostic examination is needed taking the possibility of malignant tumor into consideration even if no obvious lesion is found.

View full abstract