Study to evaluate clinicopathologicalassociation between depth of invasion and neck node metastasis in oral cavity carcinoma

Objective: To evaluate association between depth of invasion and neck node metastasis. Methods:Aprospective observational study was carried at Department of ENT, Sawai Man Singh Medical College over a period of one year in which 102 patients of oral carcinoma were included that underwent wide local excision with neck dissection. Results:The mean depth of invasion was 10.59 with 7.44 standard deviation (range 2-45 mm). Lymph node metastasis was present in 3 out of 27 patients with a DOI < 5mm (11%), in 13 out of 39 with a DOI 5.1-10 mm (34%) and in 8 out of 36 with DOI >10mm (22%). Chi square value was 30.79 and the p-value was<0.001. Conclusion: The risk of lymph node metastasis increased with increased depth of invasion.