Page 50 - Read Online

Topic: State of the Art in the Management of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Elective neck dissection in oral squamous

cell carcinoma of the upper maxilla:

necessary?

Manuel Moreno-Sánchez

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial-Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Infanta Cristina, 06080 Badajoz, Spain.
Correspondence Author: Dr. Manuel Moreno-Sánchez, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial-Head and Neck Surgery, University
Hospital Infanta Cristina, Avenida de Elvas s/n, 06080 Badajoz, Spain. E-mail: manumorenosanchez@hotmail.com

Dr. Manuel Moreno-Sánchez, M.D., obtained his Medical Degree at the University of Extremadura
School of Medicine in Badajoz, Spain, in 2010. After that, he began to work as Resident Surgeon of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Hospital Infanta Cristina, Badajoz, Spain. He is also
University Honorary Collaborator at the University of Extremadura and he has completed a Master’s
Degree in Biomedicine. Currently, he is a postgraduate student at the Program of Modeling and
Experimentation in Science and Technology of the University of Extremadura.

ABSTRACT
Aim: Surgical treatment of clinically negative neck in maxillary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of
the upper jaw is controversial. The purpose of this systematic review was to define the incidence
of cervical metastasis and to assess if elective neck dissection is justified when the neck is not
primarily affected. Methods: An electronic literature search was conducted in several databases,
including MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central databases, for articles written in English.
Results: Twenty-eight articles were included in the review. The overall cervical metastases rate
was 33% and the total initial cervical metastases rate was 16%. Interestingly, the author found
that 71% of patients with cervical metastases from maxillary SCC carcinoma were T3/T4 stage.
Conclusion: This review shows the need for a change in the management of the N0 neck in SCC
arising in the maxillary alveolus and hard palate. Elective neck dissection should be performed in
patients with T3/T4 tumours with clinic or radiographic negative necks (N0c).
Key words:
Elective neck dissection; maxilla squamous cell carcinoma; surgical treatment; cervical lymph
node metastasis

INTRODUCTION frequent than SCC from other oral sites such as tongue,
floor of mouth or retromolar region. Many studies [1-5]
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) located in the maxillary
gingiva and hard palate is relatively rare and less This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows
Access this article online others to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the
author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Quick Response Code:
Website:
http://www.parjournal.net For reprints contact: service@oaepublish.com
How to cite this article: Moreno-Sánchez M. Elective neck
dissection in oral squamous cell carcinoma of the upper maxilla:
DOI: necessary? Plast Aesthet Res 2016;3:175-80.
10.20517/2347-9264.2016.18
Received: 02-04-2016; Accepted: 02-06-2016
© 2016 Plastic and Aesthetic Research | Published by OAE Publishing Inc. 175