Prognostic analysis of lymph node density in patients undergoing neck dissection surgery for malignant neoplasm

A total of 890,000 new cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma are diagnosed worldwide annually.

To assess whether lymph node density has an impact on the survival of patients undergoing neck dissection for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (OSCC).

This was a longitudinal and retrospective study conducted with adult patients with OSCC. Clinical and demographic data, variables related to OSCC and surgery were reviewed. For statistical analysis, the Chi-square, Fisher, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis tests, univariate Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier curve were used.

A total of 96.8% of the patients were male. The mean age was 57.87 ± 8.20 years, and the majority was white as well as smoker and alcoholic. There was a statistical difference between the total number of lymph nodes resected and the types of neck dissection (p = 0.0189) and between the skin color and worse prognosis (p = 0.0227). The mortality rate was 35.5% and the mean overall survival time was 1.25 years.

There was an association between T staging and a worse survival prognosis, and between the number of lymph nodes resected and the type of neck dissection. There was no association between lymph node density and patients' overall survival.