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Updated: Sep 19, 2026
Intraoperative Assessment of Resection Margins in Oral Cavity Cancer: This is the Way
Published on: May 10, 2021
The Use of Intraoperative PET-CT in the Assessment of Surgical Margins for Patients With Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Gary M Walton1, Oludolapo Adesanya2, Lisa Rowley2,3
1Department of Head & Neck Surgery, University Hospitals, Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK.
Background:
The importance of ensuring clear margins following resection for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been well described in the literature, however, accurate intra-operative assessment of tumor margins in these patients remains problematical. Positive margins are known to be associated with a significant reduction in survival and the addition of adjuvant radiotherapy for this group of patients does not change survival, meaning that patients are subjected to the additional co-morbidities of chemo-radiation.
Method:
We describe the use of a novel intra-operative PET-CT scanner (Aura 10, Xeos, Ghent) to evaluate margin status for 18 patients undergoing excision of OSCC.
Results:
Intra-operative PET-CT showed a high positive predictive value for positive margins but was less accurate in confirming a negative margin.
Conclusion:
This new technology shows early promise in improving margin resection rates in oral cancer patients but requires a larger sample size or multi-center trial for further evaluation.
