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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Intraoperative Assessment of Resection Margins in Oral Cavity Cancer: This is the Way
Published on: May 10, 2021
Surgical salvage for local and regional recurrence in oral cancer
Robert A Ord1, Antonia Kolokythas, Mark A Reynolds
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Maryland, Greenbaum Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21201-1754, USA.
Purpose:
To evaluate local and regional recurrence and the outcomes for salvage surgery in patients for oral cancer.
Patients And Methods:
This study analyzed 354 consecutive patients with oral cancer treated primarily by surgery or surgery combined with adjuvant therapy by 1 surgeon (R.A.O.) between February 1991 and September 2001.
Results:
Overall recurrence rate was 15.5%; with 5.4% local, 8.5% regional, and 1.4% locoregional. Overall salvage for local recurrence was 52.6% 3-year survival, and statistically significant favorable prognostic factors were salvaged by surgery alone and initial cancer staging of I/II. Overall salvage for regional recurrence was 50%, with recurrence in a previously untreated neck and salvage with radical neck dissection plus radiotherapy giving the best prognosis. No patients with locoregional recurrence were salvaged.
Conclusions:
Patients who were stage I/II and were treated initially by surgery alone were the best candidates for salvage if they recurred. Salvage was best achieved with surgery or surgery + adjuvant therapy, and patients recurring within 6 months had a worse survival. Patients with locoregional recurrence or treated with RT +/- chemotherapy alone have negligible survival.
