The impact of sentinel lymph node biopsy on the quality of life in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a proven method for staging the neck in patients with early oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma because it results in less comorbidity than the traditional method of selective neck dissection, with the same oncological results. However, the real effect of that method on the quality of life of such patients remains unknown. Objective The present study aimed to evaluate the quality of life of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma T1/T2N0 submitted to sentinel lymph node biopsy compared to those that received selective neck dissection. Methods Cross-sectional study including 24 patients, after a 36 month follow-up, 15 of them submitted to the sentinel lymph node biopsy and 9 to selective neck dissection. All patients answered the University of Washington quality of life questionnaire. Results The evaluation of the questionnaires showed a late worsening of the domains appearance (p = 0.035) and chewing (p = 0.041), as well as a decrease of about 10% of general quality of life (p = 0.025) in patients undergoing selective neck dissection in comparison to those undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy. Conclusion Patients with early-stage oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy presented better late results of general quality of life, mainly regarding appearance and chewing, when compared to patients submitted to selective neck dissection.