Acta Stomatologica Naissi (Jan 2023)

Analysis of lymphocytic infiltrate as a predictive factor of neck metastases in oral squamous cell carcinoma

  • Trajković Miloš N.,
  • Krasić Dragan Đ.,
  • Stojanović Simona M.,
  • Ignjatović Aleksandra M.,
  • Stojanović Miloš Z.,
  • Pešić Pavle Z.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5937/asn2387533T
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 39, no. 87
pp. 2533 – 2542

Abstract

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Introduction: Carcinoma of the stratified squamous epithelium of the oral cavity - oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an invasive pathological lesion of the epithelium with varying degrees of squamous differentiation. It is characterized by early and extensive metastases, infiltration of adjacent anatomical structures, frequent recurrences, and a relatively low five-year survival rate of less than 50%. The aim of the study to determine the correlation between the analysis of the lymphocytic infiltrate of biopsy specimens with pathohistologically proven metastases of oral squamous cellular carcinoma on postoperative neck dissection specimens. Material and methods: The study included 42 patients with pathohistologically verified oral squamous cellular carcinoma who underwent surgery at the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the Clinic of Dental medicine in Niš in the period from 2018 to 2022. The histopathological analysis included the depth of tumor invasion, histopathological analysis of the lymph nodes of neck dissections, analysis of lymphocytic infiltration, and presence of lymphovascularand perineural invasion. Results: It was determined that the depth of invasion is statistically significantly different regarding the degree of lymphocytic infiltration (p=0.004). Invasion of over 4mm was present in 20% of patients with high infiltration, 44.4% of patients with medium infiltration, and 85.7% of patients with low infiltration. Conclusion: Given that the results of the study indicate that the analysis of the lymphocytic infiltrate can be a reliable predictive factor of the appearance of metastases in the lymph nodes of the neck, further research should be directed toward as sociating lymphocytic infiltration with certain biochemical and genetic parameters based on which a plan can be created for neck treatment in the N0 stage of oral squamous cellular carcinoma.

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