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Prophylactic contralateral neck dissection has no advantage in patients with early stage HPV-positive tonsil cancer
Kwang-Jae Cho1, Min-Sik Kim1, Jung-Hae Cho1
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Background:
Patients with locally advanced HPV-positive tonsil cancer would benefit from prophylactic contralateral neck dissection (pCND).
Aims/Objectives:
The aim of this study was to analyze rates of contralateral lymph node metastases (LNM) and their prognostic effects on locally advanced HPV-positive tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma.
Materials And Methods:
Medical records of 54 patients who underwent upfront primary surgery and pCND were retrospectively reviewed.
Results:
Six (11.1%) patients had contralateral LNM in 54 locally advanced HPV-positive tonsil cancer. Of these, five patients had contralateral level II LNM and one patient had contralateral level II and III LNM. Contralateral LNM showed significant positive correlations with advanced T stage (p = .017) and the presence of extracapsular spread (p = .007). Contralateral lymph node metastasis had no significant association with five-year disease-specific survival.
Conclusions And Significance:
This study demonstrated no advantage in performing pCND in early stage HPV-positive tonsil cancer.
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