Clinical significance of preoperative squamous cell carcinoma antigen in oral-cavity squamous cell carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Wei-Hung Lin; I-How Chen; Fu-Chan Wei; Jung-Ju Huang; Chung-Jan Kang; Ling-Ling Hsieh; Hung-Ming Wang; Shiang-Fu Huang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 213 KB
• Volume: 121
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0023-852X
• DOI: 10.1002/lary.21721

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objectives/Hypothesis:

Previous studies have demonstrated a relationship between elevated serum squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen (SCC‐Ag) levels and shorter survival in cancer patients. Few studies, however, have investigated the role of serum SCC‐Ag levels in oral SCC (OSCC). This study was conducted to analyze the relationship between preoperative SCC‐Ag levels, clinicopathologic factors, and prognosis in OSCC patients.

Study Design:

Retrospective case‐control study.

Methods:

Seventy‐nine OSCC patients from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital were retrospectively recruited between April 2008 and March 2010. Serum SCC‐Ag levels were measured preoperatively.

Results:

An SCC‐Ag level of ≥2.0 ng/mL was significantly associated with the pathologic tumor status (P < .001), pathologic nodal status (P = .037), lymph node extracapsular spread (P = .016), and tumor depth (>10 mm vs. ≤10 mm, P < .001). It was not significantly associated with histologic differentiation (P = 1.000). A univariate analysis revealed that positivity for SCC‐Ag was associated with disease‐free survival (DFS) (P = .034) and overall survival (OS) (P < .001). In SCC‐Ag‐positive patients, the distant metastatic rate was higher than in the SCC‐Ag‐negative patients (P = .053).

Conclusions:

This study demonstrated that preoperative SCC‐Ag is a good marker of pathologic lymph node metastasis, an advanced tumor stage, and a higher rate of distant metastasis. The preoperative SCC‐Ag level is a potential prognostic indicator in DFS and OS, but studies with a longer follow‐up period are needed to confirm these results.