New possibilities in the diagnosis and documentation of tumours of the floor of the mouth using 3D power Doppler-ultrasound.

Aim: To evaluate a novel 3D power Doppler ultrasound-technique (3D PDUS) in the diagnosis and documentation of tumours of the floor of the mouth. Method: 22 patients with tumours of the floor of the mouth (2 T1-, 5 T2-, 6 T3- and 9 T4-carcinomas) prospectively underwent conventional grey-scale u ltrasound combined with power Doppler ultrasound and 3D PDUS (3-Scape(TM)). All examinations were performed with the "Sonoline Elegra Advanced" in com bination with a 7.5 MHz transducer, Two independent observers compared the results regarding clear tumour margins, midline crossing, infiltration of t he mylohyoid muscle, infra-hyoidal tumour, contact to the mandible, contact to major vessels (such as the lingual, submental and/or facial artery), in tra- and peritumoural vascularisation and judged the value of the 3D recons truction method for documentation purpose. Results: All parameters relevant for therapy could be gathered from the 3D data (agreement: 98.2 %) almost without loss of information; results of bot h observers were identical (kappa value: 1.0). In the comparison to convent ional ultrasound, 3D PDUS also allows for the reconstruction of axial image s of the floor of the mouth similar to CT-images, and a 3D image of tumour vascularisation can be obtained. Acquisition and reconstruction of the 3D d ata only takes a couple of minutes. Conclusion: "3-Scape" is a novel easy-to-perform method allowing the comple te acquisition of 3D data of the entire floor of the mouth, and providing t he possibility to digitally store and/or transfer examination results witho ut loss of information. Reconstruction of ultrasound-images in any desirabl e plane and/or as a 3D presentation is possible. Thus, in the future, addit ional software will facilitate the determination of the volume and the degr ee of vascularisation of tumours.