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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Intraoperative Assessment of Resection Margins in Oral Cavity Cancer: This is the Way
Published on: May 10, 2021
Postoperative irradiation for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity: 35-year experience
Russell W Hinerman1, William M Mendenhall, Christopher G Morris
1Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida Shands Cancer Center, PO Box 100385, Gainesville, FL 32610-0385, USA. hinerrw@shands.ufl.edu
Background:
The purpose of this study was to analyze factors influencing outcome in patients who received postoperative irradiation for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.
Methods:
Between October 1964 and November 2000, 226 patients with 230 previously untreated primary invasive squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity were treated postoperatively with continuous-course external beam irradiation. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 2 years (analysis, November 2002). No patient was lost to follow-up.
Results:
The 5-year actuarial rates of locoregional control by pathologic American Joint Committee on Cancer stage were: stage I, 100%; stage II, 84%; stage III, 78%; and stage IV, 66%. Recurrence of cancer above the clavicles developed in 55 patients (24%). In multivariate analysis of locoregional control, positive margins, vascular invasion, perineural invasion, extracapsular extension, and T classification remained significant.
Conclusions:
This article provides additional data defining relatively favorable and unfavorable groups of patients in the postoperative setting. Dose recommendations are re-examined and selectively increased for high-risk patients.