Tumor thickness as a predictive factor of lymph node metastasis and disease recurrence in T1N0 and T2N0 squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue

• Published in: Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology Vol. 118; no. 2; pp. 209 - 217
• Main Authors: Matos, Leandro Luongo de, MD, PhD, Manfro, Gabriel, MD, PhD, Santos, Ricardo Vieira dos, MD, Stabenow, Elaine, MD, PhD, Mello, Evandro Sobroza de, MD, PhD, Alves, Venâncio Avancini F., MD, PhD, Pinto, Fábio Roberto, MD, PhD, Kulcsar, Marco Aurélio Vamondes, MD, PhD, Brandão, Lenine Garcia, MD, PhD, Cernea, Cláudio Roberto, MD, PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.08.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Dentistry; Female; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Lymphatic Metastasis; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Neoplasm Staging; Predictive Value of Tests; Retrospective Studies; Surgery; Survival Rate; Tongue Neoplasms - pathology
• ISSN: 2212-4403; 2212-4411
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2014.03.023

Objective The aim of the study was to compare the thickness of primary tumors with the frequency of nodal metastases and survival in patients surgically treated for T1/T2N0 oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Study Design This is a retrospective longitudinal study with 74 patients. Results None of the patients with a tumor thickness (TT) ≤ 7 mm presented with nodal metastasis, whereas 25 of the patients with a TT > 7 mm (51.0%) developed metastases ( P < .0001). Multivariate analysis showed that TT > 7 mm was a risk factor for occult nodal metastasis (odds ratio = 8.7; P  = .002) with 81.9% accuracy. TT > 10 mm was also a predictive factor of worse disease-free survival in these patients (hazard ratio = 12.2; P  = .003). Conclusions Tumor thickness of greater than 7 mm is predictive of a higher incidence of lymph node metastasis, and a TT > 10 mm is predictive of worse disease-free survival in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue.