2019 Volume 29 Issue 1 Pages 31-34
The significance of the surgical margin was evaluated for 53 patients with p16 positive oropharyngeal carcinoma who underwent surgery as the initial treatment. The positive rate of the pathological surgical margin was 58.5％, and in particular was 35.8％ in cases with invasive carcinomas. All patients with recurrence of the primary site had invasive carcinoma on the surgical margin and did not receive postoperative treatment. In the group with other surgical margin status, primary recurrence was not observed. 26％ of patients with invasive carcinomas on the margin underwent postoperative radiation alone, and no recurrence was observed in all these patients. In p16 positive oropharyngeal cancer, postoperative treatment is considered necessary in cases where the margin is positive, particularly with invasive cancer. It is suggested that radiotherapy alone should be considered in patients with p16 positive oropharyngeal cancer with positive surgical margin.
