Retrospective investigation on therapeutic results obtained for squamous cell carcinomas in the buccal mucosa

We investigated the therapeutic results obtained in 23 primary cases of squamouscell carcinoma in the buccal mucosa treated in our department. The subjects consisted of 5 cases each of stage II and III, and 13 cases of stage IV. Primary therapy was: surgery after chemoradiotherapy in 17 cases; chemoradiotherapy without surgery in 4 cases; and surgery after chemotherapy in 2 cases. Local recurrence occurred in 2 out of 19 cases after surgery for primary foci and in 2 out of 4 cases without surgery (T1 in 1 case and T4 in 3 cases). Histopathological metastasis (pN+) was confirmed as follows: T1 and T2 in 4 out of 11 cases; and T3 and T4 in 6 out of 12 cases. An endophytic growth pattern was seen in 9 out of 10 pN + cases. The 5-year cumulative survival rate was 58.3% overall. These results indicate that the positive rate of histopathological lymph node metastasis was related to the size of primary foci and an endophytic growth pattern. Surgery combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy produced favorable therapeutic results.