Elective neck dissection in early oral squamous cell carcinoma: necessary?

Aim: The indication of neck dissection in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a problem of risk-benefit evaluation between probability of neck metastases, the problem of complications associated with neck dissection and the prognostic influence of delayed diagnosis of metastasis during follow-up. There is no consensus on the elective treatment of the neck in early oral cancer patients with a clinically N0 (cN0) neck. Methods: The author performed a search of PubMed articles with the words "elective neck dissection vs. observation", "node negative neck" and "early stage oral squamous cell carcinoma". The author selected those articles that studied the early OSCC (T1-T2), and elective neck treatment was compared with clinical observation. Results: Many studies have compared the outcome of elective neck dissection (END) to observation of the neck in early OSCC. The results of them are described. The biologic aggressiveness of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, particularly in the early stages, is reflected in its ability to metastasize to regional lymph node chains. Many pretreatment imaging techniques to diminish the incidence of occult metastases haven been studied, and comparative studies have shown ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration cytology (USgFNAC) to be the most accurate. Conclusion: A few non-randomized studies have shown no advantages of END when strict USgFNAC follow-up was employed. Thus, if routine strict follow-up using USgFNAC by a welltrained ultrasonographer cannot be assured, END is the safest strategy.