Role of adverse pathological features in surgically treated early oral cavity carcinomas with adequate margins and the development of a scoring system to predict local control.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors affecting local control in patients with T1N0 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 144 patients with pT1N0 SCC of the tongue who underwent wide excision and neck dissection without adjuvant therapy.

Results: The adverse pathological features associated with local control were least margin 5 mm (P = .004), infiltrative margin (P = .403), depth >4 mm (P = .136), lymphovascular invasion (P = .301), and perineural invasion (P = .342). We derived a scoring system of 10 points based on the hazard ratio for local failure; those with scores >5 points had a 5-year local control of <60%.

Conclusion: This study suggests patients having a margin of 5 mm need revision, however, if they do not have additional adverse pathological features (score ≤4), local control is 88% at 5 years, and they may be observed. Those who have margins over 5 mm with a total score >5 may still benefit from adjuvant therapy. Those with margins over 5 mm have improved local control (P = .029).