Objective: To examine the relationship between N stage and survival in head and neck cancer to see if N stage has prognostic value.
Design: Database analysis using the Cox Proportional Hazards Model.
Method: Five hundred and twenty-three consecutive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck prospectively entered into a clinical database are analyzed for the outcome of dead with disease.
Results: There is no difference in survival between some increments of N stage, specifically N1 and N2, controlling for T stage and site.
Conclusion: A modified N stage system consisting of N0, N(limited), and N(extended) appears to have a better prognostic value.