Tissue expression of miR-449a as risk factor for occult neck metastasis in patients with cT3-T4 N0 laryngeal cancer. A pilot study.

Objective: To explore the potential role of miR-449a as biomarker for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), especially in the decision strategy of neck dissection (ND).

Methods: Each patient underwent total laryngectomy and bilateral ND (levels II-IV); during surgery, tissue samples of around 1 × 0.5 cm were extracted from both healthy tissue adjacent to the tumor and the visibly affected tumor tissue.