ABSTRACT
A retrospective study was conducted on 46 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the lip with oncologic follow-up of 2 to 10 years. Lesions staged as T2N0 were found to behave differently according to size. Forty-six cases of squamous cell carcinomas of the lip were staged and compared. The 14 cases of T2N0 lesions detected in the sample were divided into two subgroups. T2aN0 (2.0-3,0 cm) and T2bN0 (3.1-4.0 cm), which were compared in terms of rate of local recurrence and cervical metastasis by the exact Fisher test. Cure rates for group T1N0 (82 percent) and subgroup T2aN0 (86 percent) were similar (p=0.7). In contrast, a significant difference in cure rate was observed when groups T1N0 and T2aN0 (83 percent) were compared to subgroups T2bN0 tumors are similar and should be submitted to the sametreatment. T2bN0 tumors present a high rate of local and regional recurrence and should therefore be submitted to more aggressive treatment