Clinicopathological Factors Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis in Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract Background: Metastasis to regional cervical lymph nodes is an important prognostic factor for oral-cavity squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). However, it is difficult to predict nodal metastasis in OSCC. The current study was done with an aim to find the association of various clinicopathological factors to the presence of cervical lymph node metastasis in OSCC. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of hospital records from January 2020 to June 2023 was conducted in a tertiary care center. The records of 65 patients were included as per the inclusion criteria. The data were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of neck nodal metastasis. Various factors such as tumor size, volume, depth of invasion (DOI), lymphovascular invasion, and perineural invasion were statistically compared between the study groups. Results: The oral tongue was the most common subsite (25, 38.5%), followed by buccal mucosa (18, 27.7%). The mean DOI in the group with cervical lymph node metastasis was 9.83 ± 4.83 mm, and it was significantly higher than the group without cervical lymph node metastasis (6.15 ± 4.20 mm, P = 0.004). Conclusion: DOI assessment is one of the most important preoperative assessments in the clinicoradiological assessment of OSCC cases. Further, it is recommended that in cases with DOI >5 mm, the intraoperative frozen section on the nodes dissected in elective neck dissection is done for further determination of the extent of neck dissection.