Correlating the depth of invasion at specific anatomic locations with the risk for regional metastatic disease to lymph nodes in the neck for oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the critical primary tumor depth of invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma that would lead to a 20% or greater risk of nodal metastasis.

METHODS: An institutional review board approved retrospective review of our head and neck database was performed from 2009 to 2014 and the data were statistically analyzed.

RESULTS: Two hundred eighty-six patients with a diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma who met our inclusion criteria underwent primary excision and neck dissection. For a depth of invasion of 1 mm or less, there were no patients with a positive node. From 1.1 mm to 2 mm of depth of invasion, there was 1 of 11 patients (9%) who had at least 1 positive node. At 2.1 mm to 3 mm, 5 of 25 patients (20%) had at least 1 positive node.

CONCLUSION: Depth of invasion and the location of the tumor are 2 important variables to consider when making treatment recommendations to patients with clinical N0 disease. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 974-979, 2017.