Predictive factors for late cervical metastasis in stage I and II squamous cell carcinoma of the lip.

Purpose: Many authors have described clinicopathologic parameters as factors related to cervical lymph node metastasis development in N0 stage lip cancer. However, predictive factors for occult lymph node metastasis and criteria for elective neck dissection, especially for early tumour, remain undefined.

Methods: A multi-institutional study with 193 consecutive patients with early lip SCC treated from January 1990 to March 2006 was carried out retrospectively to determine factors predicting occult metastasis.