Rationale for selective neck dissection in N+ oral cancer

The most significant prognostic factor is the presence of regional metastasis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The radical neck dissection has been the preferred therapeutic modality to neck metastasis for one century. The objective of this study was to analyze the feasibility of selective neck dissection for SCC of the lower sites of the mouth. The charts of a series of 460 cases of SCCs of the inferior floor of the mouth treated in Hospital Heliópolis, Brazil, between 1978 and 2002, were retrospectively reviewed. The pattern of metastatic spread was analyzed in the radical neck dissection according to N stage. In the radical neck dissections, the metastatic spread index for levels IV and V were 5.8% and 4.6%, respectively, for cN0 patients and 9.9% and 5.9%, respectively, for cN+ patients. When level I was the only site of metastasis, this index was 11% and 5.5%, respectively. The indication of a selective neck dissection including levels I-IV is oncologically safe for SCCs of the inferior mouth when level I is clinically compromised.