CBCT and MRI as Diagnostic Imaging Modalities for Detecting Bone Invasion in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Scoping Review

Bone invasion is a critical determinant of tumor staging, surgical planning, and prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are both used to detect osseous involvement, but their comparative diagnostic performance remains debated — CBCT offers high-resolution cortical bone detail at lower radiation dose, while MRI is considered superior for soft-tissue and early medullary marrow changes, sometimes at the cost of overestimating invasion. This scoping review maps the current evidence on CBCT and MRI diagnostic performance (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy) for detecting bone invasion in OSCC, using histopathology as the reference standard where available, guided by the question: "What is the current scientific evidence regarding the diagnostic performance of CBCT compared with MRI in detecting bone invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma?" Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, four databases (PubMed, Wiley Online Library, ScienceDirect, Cochrane) will be searched without date restriction. Two reviewers will independently screen titles/abstracts and full texts, resolving disagreements by consensus, and appraise methodological quality using QUADAS-2. The expected outcome is a descriptive synthesis of how CBCT and MRI perform across study designs, populations, and tumor locations — clarifying each modality's diagnostic strengths and identifying gaps to guide imaging selection and future research, rather than a single pooled estimate