One-step nucleic acid amplification for detection of cervical lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancer patients

Abstract

One-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) is a new automated systemic method to detect lymph node metastasis by amplifying cytokeratin 19 mRNA, and has the potential to replace the intraoperative histological examination of frozen sections.
The purpose of this study was to develop the OSNA method to identify lymph node metastasis in head and neck cancer.
Analysis of 31 nodes in 13 cases of head neck squamous cell carcinoma was performed with the OSNA method and with routine histological examination.
Of six histological metastatic nodes, five were positive and one was negative according to the OSNA method. All 25 histological non-metastatic nodes were negative in the findings by the OSNA method. The false-negative node was found to be a fully necrotic lesion. Except for this necrotizing node, the OSNA and histological results were identical. According to this study, the OSNA method has the potential to diagnose cervical node metastasis in head and neck cancer.