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Head and neck soft tissue sarcomas: Unique lack of significance of synchronous node metastases
Author(s) -
Smith Valerie A.,
Overton Lewis J.,
Lentsch Eric J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.23148
Subject(s) - medicine , lymph node , head and neck , oncology , soft tissue , pathology , surgery
Background Regional lymph node metastasis (RLNM) has been identified as a poor prognostic indicator for patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS) of the extremities and trunk. However, the effect of RLNM on survival in patients with STS of the head and neck (HN) has not previously been explored. Our objective was to analyze RLNM as a prognostic indicator in HN‐STS, and to compare this cohort to patients with STS of non‐head and neck regions (NHN‐STS). Methods STS patients were identified using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Only patients without concurrent distant metastasis who underwent surgery and pathologic node staging were included. Patients were categorized based on tumor location: (1) HN‐STS and (2) NHN‐STS. Clinicopathologic data and disease‐specific survival (DSS) were compared between node‐negative and node‐positive patients in each group. Results We identified 183 cases of node‐positive STS (25 HN‐STS, 158 NHN‐STS). In the HN‐STS group, pN1 status was not associated with any of the clinicopathologic factors that we analyzed. DSS was similar among pN0 and pN1 patients with HN‐STS ( P = 0.59); however, in the NHN‐STS group, node‐positivity was significantly associated with disease‐specific mortality ( P < 0.001). Conclusions Synchronous RLNM may not affect DSS in patients HN‐STS. Node‐positive patients with HN‐STS appear to be unique from those with NHN‐STS. J. Surg. Oncol. 2012; 106:837–843. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.