[The role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in oral cavity cancer]

This study aims to evaluate the role of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in patients who had clinically N0 oral cavity cancer in the neck assessment.

Between May 2006 and May 2008, nine patients with clinically N0 oral cavity cancer (6 females, 3 males; mean age 57±24.7 years; range 31 to 71 years) who underwent surgical treatment were enrolled in this study. Eight of them had corpus linguae carcinoma, while one had lower lip carcinoma. Tumor stages were T1 in four, T2 in four patients, and T4a in one patient. The patients underwent surgery within 8 to 16 hours after lymphoscintigraphy was performed for detecting SLNs. Initially primary tumor was excised. Then, SLNs which were identified by a gamma probe, lifting skin flap of the neck were excised. Neck dissection was performed as scheduled. SLNs were examined in frozen sections. The results of frozen section and definitive histopathological diagnosis of SLNs were compared with each other, as well as the definitive histopathological diagnosis of the dissection materials.

In all patients SLNs were completely identified and excised successfully, including one node in one patient, two nodes in six patients and three nodes in two patients. All nodes were localized ipsilaterally in the neck. In addition, the frozen section and definitive histopathological examination results of all nodes were consistent. Biopsy results indicated that eight patients were SLN-negative, while one was SLN-positive. Only one patient was SLN-negative, although the pathological diagnosis was found to be N1.

Our study results suggests that SLN biopsy may be applicable for early stage oral cavity tumors.