Regional metastasis to anatomies beyond traditional neck dissection boundaries: a multi-institutional analysis focused on unconventional metastases in oral cancer patients

Background

Regional metastasis sometimes occurs in anatomies that are not included in traditional neck dissections. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes of squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity (SCCOC) patients with unconventional metastatic lymph nodes (UMLNs) in sublingual, buccinator, and parotid anatomies.

Methods

This retrospective multi-institutional analysis of squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity patients with unconventional metastatic lymph nodes was performed from January 2008 to December 2015. All the included patients received surgical treatment for unconventional metastatic lymph nodes. The end point of the study was to determine the factors influencing these patients’ survival and the corresponding solutions to improve survival. Pathological grade, contralateral metastasis, extranodal extension, and other factors were collected and analyzed by logistic regression and the Cox model.

Results

A total of 89 patients were identified. Among these patients, 25 (28.1%) received primary treatment, 28 (31.5%) received staged (therapeutic) neck dissections, and 36 (40.4%) had recurrent or residual diseases. Altogether, 45 patients (51%) had buccinator node metastases, 31 (35%) had sublingual metastases, 12 (14%) had parotid metastases, and 1 had both buccinator and parotid metastases. Regarding regional metastases, 31 patients (34.8%) had isolated unconventional metastatic lymph nodes. Adjuvant therapies were administered to 72 (80.9%) patients, 25 (28.1%) of whom were treated with radio-chemotherapies. The overall survival rate was 38.2%. Multivariate analysis found that the subsites of unconventional metastatic lymph nodes (P = 0.029), extranodal extension in both unconventional metastatic lymph nodes (P = 0.025) and cervical lymph nodes (P = 0.015), sites of primary or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity (P = 0.035), and types of neck dissections (P = 0.025) were significantly associated with overall survival.

Conclusions

Unconventional metastatic lymph nodes are uncommon, yet awareness of potential unconventional metastatic lymph nodes should be heightened. Early surgical interventions are warranted in patients with sublingual or buccinator metastases, while caution should be given to those with parotid metastases. Aggressive en bloc (in-continuity) resections may be mandatory in advanced oral cancer cases for close anatomic locations with possible buccal or sublingual metastases.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-020-02057-6.

Buccinator-based myomucosal flaps in intraoral reconstruction: A review and new classification

The buccinator-based myomucosal flaps are axial pattern flaps that are suitable in reconstruction of medium sized oral soft tissue defects; they are rich in blood supply, have appropriate thickness and considerable mucosal paddle, and they can secrete saliva. The present study describes surgical anatomy and blood supply of these flaps and demonstrates all possible modifications of these flaps (9 modifications). Many terms (> 10) have been used to refer to buccinator-based myomucosal flaps in the literatures. This report introduces a new classification system mainly based on the remaining attachments of buccinator muscle after flap elevation in pedicle variants and axial blood supply orientation in island variants.