Histopathologic parameters in the evaluation of T1 squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity.
BACKGROUND
Prognostic indicators that could assist in a more precise selection of patients with small oral carcinomas for differentiated therapy would be valuable. A significant fraction of patients with stage I disease have a relatively poor prognosis despite the small size of the tumor, but in general stage I tumors of the oral cavity have a favorable prognosis.


METHODS
Seventy-eight patients with stage I (T1N0M0) oral squamous cell carcinoma from two different ENT departments were included in the study. The pretreatment biopsy specimens were graded according to the modified classification of Jakobsson et al. Eight individual parameters were recorded, four parameters describing the tumor cell population and four parameters describing the tumor/host interaction.


RESULTS
The only significant prognostic parameter for disease-specific survival was "mode of invasion." The histologic mean score was not significantly correlated to disease-specific or crude survival.


CONCLUSIONS
Mode of invasion is the most important histologic parameter when evaluating the prognosis. Histologic evaluation of small squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity may assist the design of a differentiated treatment strategy (eg, monotherapy vs combined treatment).
ENT Department, Aarhus University Hospital, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
Troels
T
Bundgaard
Kristian
K
Rossen
Søren D
SD
Henriksen
Samih
S
Charabi
Helmer
H
Søgaard
Cai
C
Grau
D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology