Clinicopathologic Predictive Factors of Extranodal Extension in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma – A Retrospective Analysis

The implications of extranodal extension (ENE) in oral carcinoma have been often related to prognosis and survival rates. The clinicopathologic predictive factors of this established prognostic factor were analyzed in this retrospective study. A total of 358 medical records of a single institution were screened. Primary outcome variable was ENE. Predictor variables were clinical tumour (cT) and nodal (cN) staging, tumour subsite, and pathologically tumour size, depth of invasion (DOI), lymph node ratio (LNR), presence, or absence of perineural invasion (PNI), lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and mandibular involvement. After scrutinization, 216 records met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Presence of ENE was noted in 42.1% (91/216) of patients. In cN0 necks ENE was 34.7% which was statistically significant. The cut-off value for tumour size, DOI and LNR were, 7.28 cm, 9 mm and 0.05 with accuracy rates of 68%, 79% and 94% respectively. The odds of presence ENE were highest with bone involvement (2.91) followed by PNI (2.34) and lastly LVI (2.17). In conclusion, these predictive factors can be used to fortify the pathologic diagnostic criteria of ENE.