[Comparative study of clinical efficacy between surgery by intraoperative MRI navigation versus traditional surgical resection for malignancy of parapharyngeal space]

To investigate the clinical efficacy between mobile intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) navigation with a high field strength and routine surgical resection for malignancy of parapharyngeal space.

The surgical efficacy indexes of patients at our hospital during the time range from February 2010 to February 2011 were compared between two groups consisting of 29 or 42 individuals undergoing surgery with the assistance of the technique of iMRI navigation with a high field strength 1.5T or routine operation.

No difference existed between two groups in terms of age, gender, maximal diameter of tumors, tumor stages, surgical approach or pathologic diagnosis (P > 0.05). The operative duration of the group by iMRI navigation was more than the group of routine operation ((3.1 ± 0.6) h vs (2.7 ± 0.7) h, P < 0.05). And the hemorrhagic loss ((185 ± 20) ml vs (230 ± 22) ml), the volume of drainage in 72 hours, the positive rate of initial surgical margins, the postoperative hospital stay ((9.1 ± 2.1) d vs (10.3 ± 2.3) d) and the complication incidence rate (3.4% vs 9.5%) were less (all P < 0.05).

The operation by the iMRI navigation offers a much better clinical efficacy than the traditional surgery in the resection of malignancy of parapharyngeal space.