Amera Alkaisi, Husham A Zaidan and Ikbal AH Al Kabtan
Many histopathologic parameters in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma have been identified as predictive factors for cervical metastasis. Several studies focused on tumor thickness, and the depth of invasion was suggested to have a relationship to the occurrence of cervical metastasis, therefore the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between tumor depth and clinically suspicious neck, as well as occult neck disease, and to determine the cutoff point for metastasis in Iraqi population, in addition, the study intended to identify further predictive factors for cervical metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.
Methods: The medical records of 80 patients operated on with oral squamous cell carcinoma between 1991 and 2000 were reviewed; each patient, age, sex, tumor location, tumor size, degree of differentiation, pattern of invasion; lymphoplasmocytic infiltration and tumor depth were evaluated. All slides were examined by the same pathologist, chi-square test was used to compare the impact of these parameters on nodal metastasis in the neck.
Results: In multivariate analysis the most important factors was tumor depth followed by pattern of invasion, tumor site, degree of differentiation, tumor size, and lymphoplasmocytic infiltration. Univariate analysis indicates that tumor depth is important predictive factor in cervical metastasis for oral squamous cell carcinoma P<0.001.
Conclusion: Tumor depth is a reliable factor to predict nodal metastasis and tumor depth of 4 mm can be considered as a suggested standard Iraqi cutoff number in staging and management of early oral squamous cell carcinoma.
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