Study of microscopic neck metastasis in clinically N0 neck in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Background: Metastasis of aerodigestive tract cancers to cervical lymph nodes is one of the otolaryngologists’ concerns that relies on a variety of factors such as the size of the primary tumor and its spread. We aimed to study the prevalence of occult cervical metastases in patients with clinical N0 neck in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.

Methods: In this cross-sectional analytic study, the researchers referred to the archive of Emam Reza Hospital and studied medical files of patients with a definite diagnosis of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma admitted from April 2011 to April 2016 while collecting relevant data such as age, gender, size of the primary mass, place of the lesion, clinical and pathological nodal involvement. The data was analyzed employing SPSS 19 whereas the statistical significance level in all exams was set at 0.05.

Results: Average age of participants was 61.67 ± 14.02, and they were mostly male. Forty-five percent of participants had a clinical N0 neck and the majority of them didn’t have metastasis in the pathological study. The prevalence of metastatic lymph nodes in patients with clinical N0 was 30%. No significant relationship was observed between the number of lymph nodes containing occult metastasis and T of the tumor (P = .578).

Conclusion: In squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity, the prevalence of metastatic lymph nodes in the neck is 30% and is significantly related to the location of the lesion while no significant relationship to T of the tumor is observed.