Doppler sonography of the deep lingual artery

Purpose: To clarify the Doppler sonographic features of the lingual artery in normal subjects and to evaluate those of patients with cancer of the tongue. Material and Methods. Sixty-seven volunteers and 12 patients with cancer and/or leukoplakia of the tongue were examined with an intraoral sonographic probe. The visibitity of the deep lingual artery was determined on transverse and anteroposterior images. On the transverse images, the vascular index, which was defined as the number of colored pixels, was measured on bilateral lingual arteries. Thereafter, the degree of symmetry was evaluated for normal subjects and patients. Results: In normal subjects, between younger and older volunteers, there were no significant differences in visibility of the trunk but differences were found between the two groups for the dorsal branches. The vascular indices of the right and left sides were not different. The characteristic Doppler sonographic feature was vasculature in and around the tumors in the patients with cancer of the tongue. The symmetry indices of the cancer patients were significantly different from those of normal subjects. Conclusion: Doppler sonography should be an important procedure for evaluation of tongue neoplasms.