Contralateral Neck Metastasis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma-Report of Two Cases with Review of Literature

Abstract

Lymph node metastasis in the neck is an important prognostic and survival factor in patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC). Patients with pathologically negative cervical lymph nodes are believed to have a good prognosis. However, outcome of patients with lymph node metastasis, occurring after surgical excision and/or adjuvant therapy of the primary tumor is poor. A review of literature shows that the frequency of contralateral neck node metastasis (CLNM) in oral carcinomas varies from 4% to 16.1%.The CLNM includes the presence of initial CLNM, occult CLNM confirmed by pathological study and contralateral neck relapse. The risk factors for CLNM are still controversial and debatable. Primary site and location of the tumor, its extension, clinical stage, pathologic grade, tumor thickness and perineural invasion are the most common risk factors involved in CLNM. In this paper, we discuss two cases of OSCC with CLNM following surgery with adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (CTRT). The main objective of these case reports is to review the literature and look at the possible predictive clinicopathologic factors for CLNM in surgically treated primary OSCC.