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Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Intraoperative Assessment of Resection Margins in Oral Cavity Cancer: This is the Way
Published on: May 10, 2021
Prognostic value of residual node involvement after induction chemotherapy in operable oral squamous cell carcinoma
Jiong Lyu1, Yi Zhong2, Chaojun Li1
1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial-Head and Neck Oncology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of residual node involvement after induction chemotherapy (ICT) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and to investigate post-ICT node status associated with tumor characteristics.
Study Design:
We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 109 patients with operable oral squamous cell carcinoma who underwent ICT followed by surgery with neck dissection. The median follow-up was 45 months. The primary endpoints were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).
Results:
After ICT, 48 patients (44.0%) had no positive nodes, 46 (42.2%) had 1 to 3 residual nodes, and 15 (13.7%) had more than 3 residual nodes. The number of residual nodes was significantly associated with OS and DFS. On multivariate analysis, the number of residual nodes was an independent prognostic factor (P = .011 for DFS and P = .034 for OS).
Conclusions:
Although constituting a different parameter from primary surgery data, the number of positive nodes could remain a prognostic factor even after ICT (at secondary surgery).
