Novel Nomogram for Prediction of Lymph Node Metastases from Buccal Mucosa Squamous Carcinoma Using Histological Parameters

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to construct a nomogram that is easily reproducible, accurate, and cost-effective in predicting cervical lymph nodal metastasis in buccal mucosa cancer. Methodology Patients who underwent radical resection of a primary tumor of the buccal mucosa with neck dissection were enrolled. Clinical characteristics independently associated with lymph nodal metastasis in multivariate analyses were adopted to build the model. Results Patients who underwent surgery (January 2021–December 2021) were included as the model development cohort (n = 127). Depth of invasion, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, and the worst pattern of invasion were independent predictors of lymph nodal metastasis. The nomogram model based on these four predictors showed good discrimination accuracy in percentage prediction of lymph nodal metastasis. Conclusion This study proposes a simple predictive model for the risk of nodal metastasis in buccal mucosa squamous cell cancer. The study has strength that, it is based on a large sample, proposed model being simple size, and based on parameters empirically supported as well as established in literature, easy to use in routine clinical practice, and cost-effective.