Incidence of contralateral neck node metastasis in locally advanced, resectable, lateralized oral squamous cell carcinoma—a prospective interventional study

The incidence of contralateral lymph node metastasis in lateralized oral cancer varies from 0.9% to 36% in previous studies. However, in those studies, the data is heterogeneous; most of those studies have included patients with midline disease, and many have included cases which have received treatment for the contralateral neck. No conclusions have been derived which could change management guidelines, except for identification of selected risk factors for contralateral neck metastases, like tumor stage, grade, ipsilateral neck metastases and extranodal extension.  In this study, we propose to perform contralateral elective, superselective neck dissection of levels 1b and 2a for patients with locally advanced, resectable, lateralized OSCC not crossing the midline. We aim to study the incidence of contralateral lymph node metastases and to correlate this to other clinicopathological adverse prognostic factors of OSCC. We hope to develop statistical models encompassing the factors predictive for occurrence of such metastases and to form a rational basis for elective contralateral neck management.