Multicenter retrospective study of the prognosis and the effect of postoperative adjuvant therapy in Japanese oral squamous cell carcinoma patients with close margin.

Abstract

The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the prognosis of patients with oral cavity cancer with positive margin (PM) or close margin (CM) divided into pN- and pN+ groups. The evaluated endpoints were local control and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates. Higher T classification, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), and older age were significant risk factors for DSS in the pN- groups. On the other hand, extranodal extension, multiple lymph node metastases, and LVSI were significant risk factors for DSS in the pN+ groups. Among the CM pN+ patients, no significant differences in the 3-year DSS were observed between the only surgery (51.9%) and adjuvant groups (53.2%). Higher T classification and LVSI are high-risk features more than PM or CM in the pN- groups for DSS. However, further prospective studies are needed to demonstrate the usefulness of adjuvant treatment in patients with PM or CM.