Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Micro-metastasis and isolated tumour cells: the span between elective neck dissection versus neck observation in early oral cancer

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 02 January 2021

A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 23 June 2020

The Original Article was published on 25 February 2020

Abstract

Early oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) has a propensity for lymph-node metastasis. To address or not to address the neck electively during the ablative surgery has been an ongoing debate. In recent years, some practice-changing trial and systematic reviews have emerged and put to rest the discussion of elective neck dissection versus neck observation. Today elective neck is not a mere staging procedure. It has a definitive survival advantage, but the pathological basis of this advantage has not been elaborated. Understanding this could help answer some of the critical aspects of tumour spread.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ibrahim SA, Ahmed ANA, Elsersy HA, Darahem IMH (2020) Elective neck dissection in T1/T2 oral squamous cell carcinoma with N0 neck: essential or not? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-05866-3(published online ahead of print, 2020 Feb 25)

  2. D'Cruz AK, Siddachari RC, Walvekar RR et al (2009) Elective neck dissection for the management of the N0 neck in early cancer of the oral tongue: need for a randomized controlled trial. Head Neck 31(5):618–624. https://doi.org/10.1002/hed.20988

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. D’Cruz AK, Vaish R, Kapre N, Dandekar M, Gupta S, Hawaldar R et al (2015) Elective versus therapeutic neck dissection in node-negative oral cancer. N Engl J Med 373(6):521–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hutchinson IL, Ridout F, Cheung S, Shah N, Hardee P, Surwald C et al (2019) Nationwide randomised trial evaluating elective neck dissection for early stage oral cancer (SEND study) with meta-analysis and concurrent real-world cohort. Br J Cancer 121(10):827–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Majumdar KS, Rao VUS, Prasad R, Ramaswamy V, Sinha P, Subash A (2020) Incidence of micrometastasis and isolated tumour cells in clinicopathologically node-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. J Maxillofac Oral Surg 19(1):131–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12663-019-01239-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, HCG Cancer Centre, HCG Towers, P. Kalinga Rao Road, Sampangi Ram Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560024, India

    Anand Subash

  2. Department of Surgical Oncology, AIIMS, Rishikesh, India

    Abhijeet Singh

  3. Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, Medanta Hospital, Lucknow, India

    Piyush Sinha

Authors
  1. Anand Subash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abhijeet Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Piyush Sinha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anand Subash.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest amongst authors and all authors have contributed towards the article. There are no financial affiliations, and the authors have nothing to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Subash, A., Singh, A. & Sinha, P. Micro-metastasis and isolated tumour cells: the span between elective neck dissection versus neck observation in early oral cancer. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 277, 2659–2660 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06076-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06076-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation