Assessment of Glottic Squamous Cell Carcinoma

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the use of sonography and non-contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detection and staging of glottic carcinoma. METHODS: In this study, 30 consecutive patients with glottic squamous cell carcinoma underwent high-frequency sonography and non-contrast-enhanced MRI before surgical treatment. Tumor detectability and imaging findings were evaluated independently and then compared with the surgical and postoperative pathologic findings. RESULTS: Sonography showed a trend toward higher detectability than MRI in early (stage T1 and T2) glottic carcinoma (94.1% [16 of 17 patients] for sonography versus 76.5% [13 of 17 patients] for MRI; P = .335). With regard to T staging, the overall accuracy rates were 80.0% (24 of 30) for sonography and 76.7% (23 of 30) for MRI; the difference was not statistically significant (P > .99). Non-contrast-enhanced MRI was superior to sonography in showing tumor involvement in the retrolaryngeal extent of glottic carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Sonography is suggested as a noninvasive complementary modality for detection and initial staging of glottic carcinoma.