ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the prognosis for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of cervical lymph node metastases from an unknown primary site who had different clinical stages and were irradiated to different fields. Methods The clinical date of 60 patients with cervical lymph node metastatic squamous cell carcinoma from an unknown primary site(no including patients with supraclavicular node metastases) were retrospectively analyzed. Results The overall 5-year survival rates(OSR) was 68.5%, the OSR of patients with N 1,N 2 and N 3 stage were 100%, 68.0% and 40.9% respectively(? 2=7.29,P=0.026). The OSR of patients with one lateral neck, whole neck and large fields irradiation were 66.5%, 74.5% and 54.6% respectively(? 2=1.38,P =0.501). The Cox proportional hazard model showed that clinical stages of cervical lymph node had an significant effect in patients survival(P=0.032). The 5-year local control rates(LCR) 65.6%, the LCR of patients with N 1,N 2 and N 3 stage were 100%, 63.2% and 34.6% respectively(? 2=5.51, P=0.064). The LCR of patients with one lateral neck, whole neck and large fields irradiation were 87.6%, 51.0% and 72.7% respectively(? 2=2.55, P =0.279). The 5-year subsequent appearance rates of occult primary cancer(SAR) was 21.2%, the SAR of patients irradiated by small(one lateral neck or whole neck) and large fields were 23.3% and 12.5% respectively(? 2=0.52, P =0.469). Conclusions The clinical stages of cervical lymph node is an important prognostic factor for survival and the local control rates has a decreasing trend as the stage increases. The subsequent appearance rates of occult primary cancer of patients irradiated by small fields has a higher trend than its of patients irradiated by large fields, but the control rates and survival rates have no significant difference in different fields irradiated.