Background: The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the prognosis of patients with oral cavity cancer with positive margin (PM) or close margin (CM) divided into pN- and pN+ groups.
Methods: The evaluated endpoints were local control and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates.
Results: Higher T classification, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), and older age were significant risk factors for DSS in the pN- groups. On the other hand, extranodal extension, multiple lymph node metastases, and LVSI were significant risk factors for DSS in the pN+ groups. Among the CM pN+ patients, no significant differences in the 3-year DSS were observed between the only surgery (51.9%) and adjuvant groups (53.2%).
Conclusions: Higher T classification and LVSI are high-risk features more than PM or CM in the pN- groups for DSS. However, further prospective studies are needed to demonstrate the usefulness of adjuvant treatment in patients with PM or CM.
Keywords: close margin; disease-specific survival; local control; oral cancer; postoperative adjuvant therapy.
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