Work

Can Elective Neck Dissection for Oral Cancer Be Planned on the Basis of Depth of Invasion? Retrospective Analysis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: PURPOSE: The literature suggests that elective neck dissection (END) may be avoided in primaries with a depth of invasion (DOI) <3 mm. This study evaluated the accuracy of DOI in predicting nodal metastases (lymph node metastasis [LNM]) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: pN+) correlation statistics. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was analyzed to determine the accuracy of DOI in predicting LNM. Chi-square statistics were used to measure the association between the DOI groups and pN status (pN0; pN+). Post hoc analysis of variance with Bonferroni statistics was used to compare the three DOI groups. RESULTS: = .016 for DOI >5 mm and ≤10 mm). However, the sensitivity and specificity achieved by ROC analysis for a DOI cutoff value of 10 mm in the present cohort were 69.3% and 57.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION: DOI is a poor indicator of LNM in OSCC. The decision to perform END should not be based on the tumor DOI.

Source: JCO Global Oncology

DOI: 10.1200/go-24-00451

Authors: Kinjal S. Majumdar, Thaduri Abhinav, Achyuth Panuganti, Rajkumar K. Seenivasagam, Manu Malhotra