Micrometastasis: Neglected enough!

Abstract

Oral cancer, being the sixth most common cancer in the world, accounts for approximately 13% of deaths worldwide. Metastasis to the lymph nodes is one of the major prognostic factor for oral cancer. Micrometastasis are microscopic deposits of malignant cells lodged in lymph nodes. Tumor recurrence usually reflects the presence of such deposits which cannot be detected initially by conventional methods. Early screening of such cells using immunological and molecular markers would help in better staging of the primary tumor followed by prompt treatment, thus reducing tumor relapse. Therefore, the concept of micrometastasis has resulted in a paradigm shift in the staging of epithelial tumors and the overall understanding of the malignant process.

Keywords

• Molecular detection
• oral field cancerization
• sentinel lymph node
• tumor staging