Surgical treatment of early oral carcinoma - Results of a prospective controlled multicenter study

Purpose of the study. To assess whether early stage (pT1-2,pNO-1) oral cavi ty carcinoma is adequately treated by radical surgical resection alone. Material and Methods. Prospective multicenter study. Of 105 patients with c T1-2 cNO-1 oral carcinoma treated in conformity with the study design. 12 h ad to be excluded because of tumor-positive margins or pN stage > N1. The r emaining 93 patients were monitored for at least 2 years. Results. Seventeen patients had local or regional recurrence develop. In 12 of the 17 patients locoregional control was achieved by second treatment. Overall, the 4-year disease-specific survival probability was 94%. Patients treated initially without selective neck dissection had significantly high er recurrence rates than those with neck dissection, although the survival probability was not adversely affected. Conclusions. Early (pT1-2, pNO-1) squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavit y is adequately treated by surgery alone, provided the resection margins ar e tumor free. On the basis of the presented data, we would also advocate ro utine selective neck dissection. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 23: 525-530, 2001.