Analyzing the factors that influence occult metastasis in oral tongue cancer

OBJECTIVES: We accessed the various clinico-histopathological factors, and their association with occult metastasis (OM) in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred-nine patients with OTSCC were divided into the elective neck dissection (END) group and the watchful waiting (WW) group. Age, sex, T-stage, depth of invasion and differentiation were evaluated to determine the correlation between clinico-histopathological factors and OM. For immunohistochemical analysis, paraffin-embedded blocks of 41 OTSCC specimens were examined with antibodies (VEGF-c, c-Met, and ROR1). RESULTS: The group with tumor thickness of oral tongue cancer ≥3 mm had higher incidence of OM than those with a thickness of <3 mm. The depth of invasion was statistically correlated with OM (P=0.022). Immunohistochemical analysis showed that high expression of VEGF-c (P=0.043), c-Met (P=0.009), and ROR-1 (P=0.003) were statistically correlated with OM. CONCLUSION: The analysis of these clinico-histopathological and immunohistochemical factors can help to determine neck dissection in clinically negative (cN0) patients.