Recurrence and Disease-Free Survival in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma After Margin-Free Resection on Frozen Section: An Institutional Perspective

Introduction The most important factor determining survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a disease recurrence. A high rate of recurrence was noted in previous studies conducted in Pakistan; however, these studies did not consider margin status as inadequate margin clearance leads to disease recurrence. In this study, we determined cancer recurrence in patients with HNSCC after nullifying this factor. Methods This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) for a duration of three years. Data collection period was from January 2015 to December 2017. A total of 150 patients that underwent surgery at LNH for HNSCC with margin-free frozen sections were included in the study. Pathological tumor characteristics such as tumor type, size, depth of invasion and nodal status were determined. Results The mean age of the patients was 50.31±12.90 with mean tumor size of 3.38±1.76. Nodal metastases were present in 45.3% cases with 17.3% showing extranodal extension. Recurrence was observed in 66% of cases with median disease-free survival of 12 months and perineural invasion was noted in 12% cases. We found a significant association of disease recurrence with larger tumor size, depth of invasion and extranodal extension. Moreover, younger age (<30 years) and older age (>50 years) groups showed higher rates of recurrence than the middle age group (30-50 years). Similarly, univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that tumors with ≥1 cm depth of invasion and the presence of extranodal extension were more likely to have disease recurrence than tumors with <1 cm depth of invasion and without extranodal extension. Survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method for HNSCC revealed a significant difference in disease-free survival in patients with more than 2 cm tumor size and ≥1 cm depth of invasion than cases with ≤ 2cm tumor size and <1 cm depth of invasion. Conclusion A high rate of disease recurrence for HNSSC was noted in our study, despite margin-free primary tumor resection. Apart from tumor size and depth of invasion, extranodal extension was significantly associated with disease recurrence in HNSCC. This signifies a need for margin evaluation of neck dissection specimen in cases with extranodal extension.