Depth of Invasion as a Predictor of Cervical Nodal Metastasis of Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Findings From a Tertiary Care Center in Pakistan.

Background and objective Cervical lymph node metastasis has a significant impact on the survival of patients with oral cavity tumors. The rate of occult neck node metastasis is reported to range from 20 to 40%. The depth of invasion (DOI) has been incorporated in the eighth edition of the American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) staging manual and is an important predictor of cervical lymph node metastasis.