Abstract
Objectives:
Examine the relationship between high risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and lymph node size in patients with single node metastasis of oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma.
Methods:
The study included 48 subjects with squamous cell carcinoma,21 in the oral cavity and 27 in the oropharynx. High risk HPV in situ hybridization was performed to detect HPV infection. The pathologic N stages were 36 N1and 12 N2a.
Results:
The positive rate of high risk HPV in situ hybridization was 29% (14/48). There was a significant difference in the fraction positive high risk HPV between oral (9.5%) and oropharyngeal (44.4%) cancer (P = 0.008). The average diameter of positive lymph node was 20.7 ± 12.6 mm (range, 5-54 mm). A significant positive correlation was found between high risk HPV status and lymph node size (P = 0.018). The mean lymph node diameter in cases with high risk HPV positive was 27.3 ± 13.1 mm, whereas in cases with high risk HPV negative was 18.0 ± 11.5 mm. Extracapsular spread was also significantly related to the lymph node size (P = 0.030). Patients with high risk HPV negativity (P = 0.043), advanced T stage (P = 0.009), or the presence of extracapsular spread (P = 0.038) had a significant adverse effect on 5-year disease specific survival according to the Kaplan-Meier survival curves.
Conclusions:
High risk HPV infection is significantly related to lymph node size in patients with single node metastasis of oral and oropharyngeal cancer.
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