Controversies in the treatment of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma Pulgar Encinas, Rosa María Ferrari, Leonardo Cariati, Paolo Zubiate, Imanol Martínez-Sahuqillo Rico, Ángel Arroyo Rodríguez, Susana Pulgar Encinas, Rosa María Ferrari, Silvano Martínez Lara, Ildefonso Oral squamous cell carcinoma Surgical margins Neck dissection Abstract The treatment of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is still a controversial issue. Thanks to the 8th edition of TNM by AJCC there is a better distinction between the stages of OSCC. However, Stages I and II still share the same treatment protocol, even if the prognosis is radically different. A retrospective study has been conducted including 70 previously untreated patients with Stage I or II OSCC, treated with tumorectomy and selective neck dissection. The study focuses on the link between pT1/2 and various other factors, particularly histological grading, vascular and perineural invasion, local and cervical recurrence, surgical margins and overall survival. These data reveal significant differences between pT1 and pT2 in histological grade, perineural invasion, cervical recurrence, surgical margins, and overall survival, emphasizing the necessity of different treatment protocols for T1 and T2 OSCC. Distinct strategies should be proposed to treat Stage I and II OSCC, with Stage II patients possibly benefitting from more aggressive treatments: following these data, a wait-and-see strategy should only be considered in Stage I, while certain treatments at the cervical level — such as prophylactic neck dissection and sentinel node biopsy — should always be considered for Stage II tumors. 2024-01-22T10:00:45Z 2024-01-22T10:00:45Z 2024 journal article Controversies in the treatment of early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma. Ferrari, L; Cariati P; Zubiate, I; Martínez-Sahuquillo Rico, A; Arroyo Rodriguez A; Pulgar Encinas, R; Ferrari, S; Martínez Lara, I. Current Problems in Cancer, 2024; 48: 101056 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/87064 10.1016/j.currproblcancer.2023.101056 eng embargoed access Elsevier