Abstract
Background: In early oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), neck dissection may be avoided by diagnosis of lymph node metastasis using sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SNB).
Methods: The subjects were 38 patients with stage I or II oral SCC and postoperative follow-up for >2 years. SLNs were identified by scintigraphy on the day before surgery. During surgery, SLNs were excised and metastasis was evaluated in intraoperative frozen sections.
Results: The SLN detection rate was 100%. Four SNB-positive cases underwent radical neck dissection and 34 SNB-negative cases underwent primary tumor resection. Six cases had local recurrence. Of 29 SNB-negative cases without local recurrence, 3 had secondary cervical lymph node metastasis. Three-year overall survival rates were 75% and 89.3% in SNB-positive and SNB-negative cases, respectively.
Conclusion: The SNB contributed to avoid unnecessary neck dissection in oral SCC.
