3-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER-RECONSTRUCTED IMAGE FOR STUDYING CANCER EXTENSION WITHIN THE HYPOPHARYNX

Hypopharyngeal cancer is one of the head and neck cancers with poor pr ognosis. This is due to the unpredictable extension of the local disea se and the high ratio of distant metastasis. To verify the morphologic al behavior of hypopharyngeal cancer, whole-mount horizontal serial se ctions were developed using the larynges obtained from total pharyngol aryngoesophagotomy. The technique of processing high-resolution three- dimensional (3D) images of the larynges using Nikon Cosmozone 2SA soft ware is presented. Two representative surgical specimens were used and 3D images reconstructed. In these two particular cases, the cancer in filtrated superiorly through submucosal lymphatic ducts and formed sep arate daughter nests under the intact mucosal epithelium far above the main tumor. 3D images enhanced the morphological features of these ca ses. These cases also suggested the difficulty of defining the upper r esecting limit in the operation of hypopharyngeal cancer. 3D reconstru ction is and will be a crucial modality for studying the morphological behavior of hypopharyngeal cancer.