Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Tumor Hypoxia Assessment: In Vivo 3D Oxygen Imaging Through Electron Paramagnetic Resonance
Published on: February 14, 2025
Evaluation of tumor oxygenation by color duplex sonography: a new approach
Ercole F N Di Martino1, Bernd Gagel, Oliver Schramm
1Departments of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Plastic Head and Neck Surgery, Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. edimartino@ykaachen.de
Objective:
Description of a new noninvasive method for the evaluation of tissue oxygenation in head and neck cancer.
Study Design And Setting:
Prospective nonrandomized controlled study in an academic medical center on 20 patients with neck metastases of head and neck cancer. Metastases were investigated using color duplex sonography and pO2 histography. The vascularization in sonography was quantitatively evaluated by color pixel density and compared to the pO2 values of the same nodes.
Results:
The correlation between vascularization and flow velocity was 0.71. For the mean/median pO2 -values and for the pO2 readings <10.0 mmHg correlations were r = 0.65 / 0.76 and 0.71.
Conclusion:
This sonographic method allows a safe and reliable evaluation of oxygenation in metastases of head and neck cancer.
Significance:
The new approach is an alternative to pO2 histography and may play a future role in the planning of radiotherapy in the neck.
