Diagnostic Accuracy of Computed Tomography in Diagnosing Mandibular Invasion in Patients with Already Known Oral Cancer

Abstract

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography in diagnosing mandibular invasion in patients with already known oral cancer taking histopathology as gold
standard.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at department of Radiology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, from June 2022 till December 2022. Both male and female patients aged 25-80 years, with already diagnosed oral cancer on histopathology for 2 months or more presenting for CT scan with swelling or pain in the lower jaw for duration of two or more weeks, as described in operational definition were included. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy of CT scan was calculated using 2 x 2 contingency tables using histopathological findings as gold standard.
RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 55.01 ± 12.71 years. Mean duration of symptoms was 11.23±4.95 months. Diagnostic accuracy of CT scan in cases of mandibular invasion showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value (PPV), negative predicted value (NPV) and overall diagnostic accuracy as 83.76%, 83.33%, 96.49%, 48.39% and 83.69% taking
histopathology as gold standard.
CONCLUSION: CT scan has a high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy in diagnosis of mandibular invasion in cases of oral cancers.