Clinicostatistical investigation was made on about 53 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity who had undergone neck dissection at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Asahikawa NIcdical College from January 1979 to December 1988.
Of the 71 cases of neck dissection, 50 were performed therapeutically, and 21 prophylactically. Metastases to the cervical lymph nodes were histologically confirmed in 33 patients.
The majority of the involved nodes were submandibular lymph nodes, superior internal jugular nodes, and mid internal jugular nodes.
The five-year-survival rate was 84.1% in patients without metastasis and 46.4% with metastasis.
Prognosis was poorer as the number of metastatic nodes and sites increased. Prognosis was poorer as cervical nodes of lower level were involved.
Of the 33 cases with cervical lymph node metastasis, eleven cases died of local failure, but only one case died of failure in the neck. This indicates that the prognosis of cases with cervical lymph node metastasis depends upon whether the primary disease is controlled or not.
