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Novel diagnostic procedure
Case report
Tomoelastography for non-invasive detection of ameloblastoma and metastatic neck lymph nodes
  1. Marie Beier1,
  2. Ingolf Sack2,
  3. Benedicta Beck-Broichsitter1,
  4. Bernd Hamm2 and
  5. Stephan Rodrigo Marticorena Garcia2
  1. 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité­ – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
  2. 2Department of Radiology, Charité­ – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Dr Stephan Rodrigo Marticorena Garcia; stephan.marticorena-garcia{at}charite.de

Abstract

Ameloblastoma is a benign epithelial tumour and the most common odontogenic tumour, accounting for about 18% of cases. We present a patient to illustrate the first use of tomoelastography for quantitatively mapping tissue stiffness (shear wave speed) and fluidity (loss angle of the complex shear modulus) in a metastasised ameloblastoma of the left mandible. Tomoelastography maps clearly depicted the extent of the tumour by abnormally high values of stiffness and fluidity (1.73±0.23 m/s, 1.18±0.08 rad) compared with normal values in the contralateral mandible (1.04±0.09 m/s, 0.93±0.12 rad). Abnormal stiffness also revealed metastatic involvement of the neck lymph nodes (1.30±0.03 m/s vs 0.86±0.01 m/s). Taken together, stiffness and fluidity measured by tomoelastography can sensitively detect the presence and extent of bone tumours and metastatic spread to cervical lymph nodes.

  • head and neck cancer
  • screening (oncology)
  • radiology

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2020-235930

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MB, IS and SRMG: Conception, design, acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data. Drafting the article. Final approval of the published version. Agreement to be accountable for the article and to ensure data accuracy and integrity. BB and BH: Conception and design. Revising the article critically for important intellectual content. Final approval of the published version. Agreement to be accountable for the article and to ensure data accuracy and integrity.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.