ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the patterns of lymph nodes metastasis (LNM) in supraglottic laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SLSCC) patients with different tumor differentiation. Methods We retrospectively investigated the clinicopathological data of patients diagnosed as SLSCC. The LNM patterns were analyzed by different tumor differentiation degrees. Results A total of 79 patients were included and divided into poorly differentiated group (n=20), middle differentiated group (n=52) and well differentiated group (n=7). There were 38 patients in N0 stage, 8 patients in N1 stage, 28 patients in N2 stage and 5 patients in N3 stage; 36 patients with LNM in level Ⅱ, 21 patients with LNM in level Ⅲ, 7 patients with LNM in level Ⅳ and no patients with LNM in level Ⅴ or Ⅵ. Conclusion SLSCC patients can benefit from bilateral neck dissection, and the patients with poor or moderate differentiation can benefit from neck dissection (levelsⅡ-Ⅳ), while the patients with well differentiation dissection may be more appropriate for neck dissection (levels Ⅱ-Ⅲ).