Level-Wise Neck Lymph Node Positivity After Selective Neck Dissection (I-III) in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the levels of neck lymph node positivity after selective neck dissection (I-III) in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients. Study design: A cross-sectional study Place and Duration: Oral and Maxillofacial surgery department of Liaquat university of medical and health sciences Jamshoro from January 2020 to December 2022 Methodology: A total of 50 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma were included in this study. All the patients were gone through selective neck dissection (I-III) and the Levels of neck lymph node positivity were determined. Pathological tumor staging was done as T1, T2, T3 and T4. Histological differentiation was labelled differentiation, moderate differentiation and poor differentiation as well.  Results: The mean age of the study participants was 40 years. Regarding the side of oral cavity involvement, 23 participants had the right side and 27 participants had left side involvement. Buccal mucosa was the most common site (56%), followed by the tongue (20%). A total of 22 (44%) participants had the T2 stage, while 13 (26%) had the T4 stage. Overall 31 cases (62%) had no positive node level, 10 (20%) had positive node level I, 5 (10%) had positive node level II and 4 (8%) had positive node level III. A total of 36 participants (92%) had moderate differentiation, while 3 (6%) had well differentiation. Conclusion: There was no conclusive correlation between node positivity among the various oral cancer subsites. The most frequently affected neck levels are level I and level II. Most of the study participants had no positive neck lymph node level, while the positive level at I was present in 20% of cases, Level II in 10% of cases and level III in 8% of cases.