Correlation of Clinical and Pathological TNM Staging With Histopathological Grading in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common type of head-neck cancer. The staging and grading of OSCC play an important role in disease management. Accurate staging helps in patient counseling, treatment planning, and prognostication in head-neck SCC. However, discrepancies between pathological and clinical staging have been stated, which affect disease prognosis. Method A retrospective review of 60 surgically treated patients with OSCC was done. Tumor-nodal-metastasis staging, both clinically and pathologically, was equated and tabulated to determine upstaging, downstaging, and cases where no stage change occurred. Additionally, the clinical and pathological TNM (tumor, node, metastasis) staging were correlated with the evaluation of histopathological grading. Results This study comprised 60 surgically operated OSCC patients. The T and N stages showed significant differences when compared clinically and pathologically. There was no significant correlation between histopathological grading and the disparities in TNM staging. Conclusion Some discrepancies exist between TNM staging evaluated clinically and pathologically for OSCC, which may show its effect on treatment planning and the prognosis of affected individuals. The histopathological analysis is the gold standard for the categorization of staging and grading in OSCC for proper treatment planning.