LAUSR

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine correlations between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features including radiologic depth of invasion (r-DOI) and pathologic DOI (p-DOI) of squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa. STUDY DESIGN In total, 31 lesions were retrospectively evaluated. MRI findings included detectability, buccinator muscle invasion (positive: BMI+, negative: BMI-), buccal fat pad invasion (positive: BFPI+, negative: BFPI-), and r-DOI measured on T2-weighted images (T2-DOI) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images (CET1-DOI). These findings were compared to the p-DOI of the tumors. RESULTS The p-DOI values of undetectable lesions were smaller than those of detectable lesions (P < .001), and the cutoff value was 1 mm. BMI+ and BFPI+ lesions had significantly larger p-DOI values than the corresponding BMI- and BFPI- lesions (P < .001), with cutoff values of 5 and 6 mm, respectively. The correlation coefficient between CET1-DOI and p-DOI was 0.68 (P < .001). CET1-DOI values were larger than p-DOI (P < .001) and the average difference between them was 3.4 mm. T2-DOI was inconclusive in 50% of cases. Interobserver agreements of MRI evaluation were good to very good. CONCLUSION MRI-derived parameters were useful in estimating p-DOI and may be helpful in predicting the depth of invasion of tumors and the risk of lymph node metastasis.