Prognostic value of clinical and pathologic T stages defined by the American Joint Committee on Cancer for eyelid sebaceous carcinoma in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the clinical and pathologic T category classification, as defined by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), is associated with lymph nodes (LN) or distant metastasis in patients with eyelid sebaceous carcinoma.


METHODS
Forty patients treated for eyelid sebaceous carcinoma at Seoul National University Hospital between March 1999 and December 2011 were retrospectively staged according to the AJCC 7th edition criteria. Three different primary tumor classifications-(1) clinical tumor size at presentation; (2) clinical AJCC T stage (cT) at presentation based not only on size, but also on the extent of involvement and (3) pathologic AJCC T stage (pT) based on histopathological examination-were compared and evaluated with regard to their association with LN or distant metastasis.


RESULTS
In univariate analysis, the AJCC cT (p = 0.005) and pT (p = 0.029) categories were significantly associated with metastasis, but clinical tumor size alone did not correlate with metastasis (p = 0.093). Clinical and pathologic AJCC stage T2b or higher tumors were significantly associated with metastasis compared to stage T1 or T2a tumors [odds ratio cT, 8.00 (p = 0.025); pT, 6.91 (p = 0.028)].


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical and pathologic AJCC T category has predictive value for LN or distant metastasis in eyelid sebaceous carcinoma. However, the clinically assessed largest tumor dimension alone is not an effective predictive factor. Clinicians should be aware of the increased risk of metastasis in patients with tumors of stage T2b or higher at initial presentation.
Department of Ophthalmology, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Cheonan, Korea.
Youn Joo
YJ
Choi
Hyun Chul
HC
Jin
Min Joung
MJ
Lee
Namju
N
Kim
Ho-Kyung
HK
Choung
Sang In
SI
Khwarg
D018266:Adenocarcinoma, Sebaceous / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005142:Eyelid Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000458:organization & administration; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012626:Sebaceous Gland Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D014481:United States