Quantification of surgical margin shrinkage in the oral cavity

Obtaining adequate surgical margins, free of tumor, is crucial for success in oncologic surgery. The head and neck surgeon often finds that the tumor‐free margin reported from histopathologic measurement is significantly smaller than the margin measured in‐situ. It was the purpose of this study to quantify the change in size of mucosal and muscle surgical margins following excision, formalin fixation, and slide preparation of tongue and labiobuccal tissue in a canine model.