Tumour thickness predicts cervical nodal metastases and survival in early oral tongue cancer

Oral squamous cell carcinoma: Review of prognostic and predictive factors

“…Apparently, there are no prognostic differences between males and females, [7][8][9] although some authors have reported lower survival rates in females, attributed to delay in seeking medical care and lower acceptance of treatment. 10 The correlation of prognosis with age seems controversial, and some authors show no relationship between them, 7-9,11 whereas others demonstrate worse prognosis in older patients.…”

“…Cancer staging is based on the TNM system, which has been labeled as imperfect, per se, for prognostic purposes. 8,9,12,13,[26][27][28][29][30] However, the vast majority of authors accepts that disease staging has a crucial influence on the outcome. Guerra et al 31 reported 5-year survival rates of 82% for initial stages and 49% for advanced disease.…”

“…The risk of nodal metastases and mortality rates vary directly with the thickness of the primary tumor. 8,11,26 O-charoenrat et al found that tumor thickness above 5 mm is a strong predictor of occult nodal metastases and should indicate an elective neck dissection. 8 There is evidence that tumor thickness may exercise more influence on the survival rates than factors such as clinical and pathologic staging.…”

Impact of Clinical and Histo-Pathological Prognostic Factors on T1-2N0-1 Oral Tongue Carcinoma

“…Many histo-pathologic features have been previously investigated as risk factors for occult cervical lymph node metastasis in early OTC but there is no consensus [9,10,18] and there is still controversy regarding the management of clinical N0 neck [19]. The PVI and PLI are identified as the factors of RR but no statistical difference in DFS or OS between elective treatment and observation groups in the present study.…”

“…The frequently identified high-risk pathologic features are close or positive surgical margins and extracapsular nodal extension which are usually not found in early-stage OTC [5,6]. Other pathological as well as clinical risk factors have been reported but there is still uncertainty [3,[8][9][10].…”