Importance of lymphovascular invasion and invasive front on survival in floor of mouth cancer

BACKGROUND: The floor of mouth (FOM) is a common site of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The purpose of this study was to investigate pathological predictors of survival in FOM SCC. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 54 consecutive patients undergoing surgery for FOM SCC. Pathological parameters were extracted from histological reports with original pathology slides re-reviewed by 2 pathologists for missing data. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, depth of invasion >10 mm (p = .009), lymphovascular invasion (LVI; p < .001), noncohesive invasive front (p = .006), perineural invasion (PNI; p = .003), and nodal metastases (p = .02) were significant predictors of overall survival. On multivariate analysis, LVI (p = .009) and invasive front (p < .001) remained significant. Postoperative radiotherapy improved survival in patients with LVI, PNI, and nodal metastases, and was just outside significance for noncohesive invasive front (p = .06). CONCLUSION: LVI is an adverse prognosticator in FOM SCC and indicates postoperative radiotherapy. Further study is required to investigate the importance of invasive front.