[Salvage surgery in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity]. / Chirurgia di salvataggio nel carcinoma squamocellulare del cavo orale.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the results of salvage surgery in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. In the period 1983-1998, 127 patients consecutively underwent surgical treatment. Of these, 80 cases had not been treated previously (Group I), while 47 patients had come under our observation after radiotherapy alone or other treatment had failed (Group II). Local recurrence was observed in 29 cases, local/regional in 10 cases, and exclusively regional in eight cases. In both groups, the surgical T-approach was prevalently transoral (55 cases in Group I and 24 in Group II). A transmandibular approach was taken in most of the remaining patients (22 cases in Group I and 16 in Group II). One hundred patients (65 in Group I and 35 in Group II) underwent laterocervical neck dissection. The neoplasms in group I were staged as follows: pT1, 29%; pT2, 37.5%; pT3, 12.5%; pT4, 21%. In group II, the neoplasms were stages as: pT0, 17%; pT1, 21%; pT2, 38%; pT3, 13%; pT4, 11% (Group II). The overall 5-year survival rate was 38% and the overall determinate 5-year survival rate was 45%, distributed as follows in the two groups: 51% of the patients in Group I, 36% of the patients in Group II (p = 0.01). Restricting the analysis to Group II, the difference in the three year survival rate was 54% among the patients at stages I-II and 25% among the patients suffering from a recurrence at stages III-IV (p = 0.04). In patients whose recurrence was limited to the primary tumor, survival at 3 years was 49%; in those whose recurrence also had nodal involvement, survival was 27% (p = 0.05). Lastly, the 5-year survival rate was 45% in the patients whose recurrence had been diagnosed late and only 24% in the 24 patients whose recurrence had been diagnosed within a year of prior treatment (p = 0.09). In conclusion, the life expectancy of patients undergoing salvage surgery for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity is significantly less with respect to patients undergoing first round treatment. This difference appears significant only in patients with a recurrence that was diagnosed at an advanced stage. In accordance with the previously published data, an early recurrence (within a year) and the presence of a recurrence in the neck are unfavorable prognostic factors.

[Indications for elective neck dissection in malignant epithelial parotid tumors]. / Indicazioni allo svuotamento linfonodale latero-cervicale elettivo nelle neoplasie maligne epiteliali della parotide.

The purpose of the present study was to define the indications and extension for the treatment of lymph nodes in clinically NO patients with primary malignant epithelial parotid tumors. A retrospective analysis was performed on 46 cases with such tumor out of 307 parotid neoplasms (246 benign, 61 malignant) consecutively treated from 1985 to 1994. Lymph node metastases were present only in the histotypes with a high degree of malignancy (overall incidence, 24%). Two patients (5%) showed occult metastases. No correlation was found between the size of the neoplasm and the incidence of lymph node metastases. However, the latter were significantly more common in locally highly aggressive neoplasms (class "a"), 8%; class "b" 43%; P = 0.006). Due to the small number of cases, it was not possible to correlate the incidence of occult metastases with neoplasm size or local extension. As regards topographic distribution of lymph node metastases, level II was always involved, level V was never involved, and level i.v was involved only when metastases were found in the upper levels. Occult metastases were found only at level II. Over a follow-up period of 2 to 10 years, no cases were seen with cervical recurrences. Although drawn from a limited series, the results are similar to the data generally reported in the literature, showing that lymph node metastases are rare in neoplasms with a low grade of malignancy whereas there is a significant increase in the incidence of metastatic lymph nodes and occult metastases when the grade of malignancy is high. In conclusion, in clinically NO patients, a suprahomohyoid neck dissection (levels I-II-III) is indicated only when the neoplasm shows a high grade of malignancy or when it is a class "b" malignancy. In the other cases, neck dissection is determined by the clinical evidence of metastasis and can be extended to the lower levels. Neck dissection can be avoided in NO patients whenever ultrasound and fine needle biopsy are both routinely used in the preoperative evaluation of the cervical lymph nodes.