Aim: To identify the cut-off value for depth of infiltration for predicting the risk of lymph node metastasis of the neck in surgically treated patients affected by pT1-2 cN0 oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Meta-analysis of 6 articles was done with 938 patients from PubMed search of last fifteen years.
The mean depth of infiltration in No neck was 4.42mm, SD 0.66 (95%CL: 3.89-4.95) while the mean depth of infiltration in N+ neck was 6.95mm, SD 1.36 (95% CL 5.86-8.04). One sample t-test was done to analyse the level of significance between Cut-off depth of infiltration for N0 and N+; which was found to be significant. (p-0.002). ROC analysis was done to find the cut-off depth of infiltration in all N0 necks which was 4.50mm with Odds ratio(OR) – 9.32 with sensitivity of 84.7% in N+ necks which makes elective neck dissection an important surgical option for good prognosis of OSCC.
Tumor infiltration depth is an important prognosticator in pT1-2 cN0 necks. Tumors depth of infiltration greater than 4.50mm radiologically or clinically must undergo an elective neck dissection to improve the prognosis of OSCC.