Abstract
To investigate the factors associated with lymph node metastasis of the stage I and II carcinomas, 94 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity were clinicopathologically analyzed.
Postoperative metastases and/or lymph node involvements in elective neck dissection were found in 20 (21.2%), 4 (4.2%) respectively out of the 94 patients. The tumor size, tumor site, histologic differentiation of the primary tumor have no significant relationship with nodal metastasis, however, a significant correlation exists between the vertical invasion of primary cancer and the cervical nodal metastasis. High-malignant potential groups were characterized as follows that the tumor thickness was more than 3.0 mm in grade 2 and 3 of mode of invasion, or more than 1.6 mm in grade 4, which showed endophytic growth pattern. Furthermore, patients with high-malignant potential should perform elective neck dissection. On the other hand, low-malignant potential groups were thought to obtain an excellent clinical course with tumor excision alone.
