Depth of Invasion, Lymphovascular Invasion, and Perineural Invasion as Predictors of Neck Node Metastasis in Early Oral Cavity Cancers

AimsThe present study examines the role of demographic and pathological features of primary tumours in predicting neck metastasis in early oral cavity cancers, which has been a matter of debate.MethodsA single-centre, retrospective, institution review was conducted of all the patients presented to our centre from January 2014 to December 2021. Patient characteristics were compared between the two lymph node groups (lymph node positive and lymph node negative) and significant prognostic factors were determined.ResultsA total of 462 oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients were included, 407 male and 55 female. Tobacco chewing (59.2%) was a major habit with buccal mucosa (49.5%) and tongue (44.8%) as primary sites. The majority of the patient's histology was of SCC (96.8%) with grade II (moderately differentiated, 74.5%). Univariate logistic regression analysis to predict lymph node metastasis showed pT size (< 0.001), LVI (< 0.001), and PNI (< 0.001) as significant tumor characteristics. On multivariate, pT size (OR-1.58, P - 0.0001) and LVI (OR-19.70, P - 0.0001) were reported to be statistically significant to predict lymph node metastasis.ConclusionReporting and studying the clinico-pathological features of primary tumors can give vital information in predicting the neck node metastasis in OSCC patients.