[The histological research between the mode of invasion and cervical lymph node metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity].
OBJECTIVE
The relationship between the mode of tumor invasion in the tumor-host borderline and the frequency of cervical lymph node metastasis was investigated in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.


METHODS
200 cases with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity were studied by histological method with HE stained. The mode of invasion in the tumor-host relationship was classified into five grades by Yamamoto's criteria.


RESULTS
With regard to the relationship between the mode of invasion and metastasis, the more invasive the tumor tissue was, the more frequent the metastasis formed (P < 0.001). The frequency of metastasis in grades 1 and 2 was low (0 and 5.9%, respectively), The frequency of metastasis in grades 3 was moderate (14.3%), and that in grades 4c and 4d was highly rapid (63.0% and 82.9%, respectively). Single node metastases were frequent in grade 3 and grade 4c (66.7% and 58.8%, respectively), while plural node metastases were frequent in grade 4d (70.6%, P < 0.05). Moreover, the distribution of metastasized lymph nodes was focused on level 1 (41.2%) or level 1 and 2 (79.4%) in grade 4c and was dispersed from level 1 to 4 in grade 4d (P < 0.05). In the present study, the degree of differentiation did not correlate well with the frequency of metastasis.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that the more invasive the tumor cells were to the host, the more frequent the metastasis formed. The different mode of invasion would accompany with different frequency of metastasis, different number and distribution of metastasized lymph nodes.
Yang
Zhan
Z
Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming 650032, China.
Pu
Ping
P
Wen
Yu-ming
YM
Fu
Hong-mei
HM
Li
Ji-mei
JM
D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms; D009333:Neck; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness