Intraoperative Techniques That Define the Mucosal Margins of Oral Cancer In-Vivo: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: This systematic review investigates techniques for determining adequate mucosal margins during the resection of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The primary treatment involves surgical removal with ≥5 mm margins, highlighting the importance of accurate differentiation between SCC and dysplasia during surgery. METHODS: A comprehensive Embase and PubMed literature search was performed. Studies underwent quality assessment using QUADAS-2. RESULTS: After the full-text screening and exclusion of studies exhibiting high bias, eight studies were included, focusing on three margin visualization techniques: autofluorescence, iodine staining, and narrow-band imaging (NBI). Negative predictive value (NPV) was calculable across the studies, though reference standards varied. Results indicated NPVs for autofluorescence, iodine, and NBI ranging from 61% to 100%, 92% to 99%, and 86% to 100%, respectively. Autofluorescence did not significantly enhance margins compared to white light-guided surgery, while iodine staining demonstrated improvement for mild or moderate dysplasia. NBI lacked comparison with a white light-guided surgery cohort. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend studying and comparing the diagnostic accuracy of iodine staining and NBI in larger cohorts of patients with oral SCC, focusing on discriminating between SCC and (severe) dysplasia. Furthermore, we advise reporting the diagnostic accuracy alongside the treatment effects to improve the assessment of these techniques.

Differences in the association of time to treatment initiation and survival according to various head and neck cancer sites in a nationwide cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether there are differences in the effects of time to treatment interval (TTI) on patient survival for head and neck cancer (HNC) sites in order to provide evidence that can support decision-making regarding prioritizing treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients in the Netherlands with a first primary HNC without distant metastasis between 2010 and 2014 were included for analysis (N = 10,486). TTI was defined as the time from pathologic diagnosis to the start of initial treatment. Overall survival (OS), cox regression analyses and cubic spline hazard models were calculated and visualized. RESULTS: Overall, the hazard of dying was higher (HR = 1.003; 95 % CI 1.001-1.005) with each additional day until treatment initiation. The pattern, as visualized in cubic spline graphs, differed by site the hazard increased more steeply with increasing TTI for oral cavity cancer. For oropharyngeal and laryngeal cancer, a slight increase commenced after a longer TTI than for oral cavity cancer, while there was hardly an increase in hazard with increasing TTI for hypopharyngeal cancer. CONCLUSION: The relationship between longer TTI and decreased survival was confirmed, but slight variations in the pattern of the hazard of dying by TTI by tumour site were observed. These findings could support decisions on prioritizing treatment. However, other aspects such as extent of treatment and quality of life should be investigated further so this can also be included.