Cervical Lymph Nodes: A Hotbed For Metastasis in Malignancy

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Pathology

Background:

• Cervical lymph node metastasis (NNM) is a critical prognostic factor in many malignancies.
• Understanding the incidence of NNM from infraclavicular primaries is essential for patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the incidence of neck node metastasis (NNM) from malignancies originating in the infraclavicular region.
• To identify common primary cancer types associated with cervical lymph node involvement.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 4000 patients' data from a tertiary cancer center (March 2012-March 2017).
• Inclusion criteria identified 68 patients with clinically palpable or enlarged cervical lymph nodes.
• Data extracted from Hospital Management Software.

Main Results:

• Lung cancer was the primary malignancy in 41.7% of patients with NNM.
• Breast carcinoma (17.64%) and head and neck malignancies (20.58%) were also significant contributors.
• Cervical, endometrial, and renal malignancies each accounted for approximately 7.3% and 2.94% respectively.

Conclusions:

• Cervical lymph node status, particularly supraclavicular nodes, is pertinent to various primary tumor sites.
• Understanding these patterns aids in planning interdisciplinary patient management.
• Correlating NNM with primary tumor sites can improve prognostic assessments.