The role of elective neck dissection in T1 and T2 nasal cavity squamous cell carcinomas

Purpose To evaluate the role of elective neck dissection (END) on oncological outcome in early-stage nasal cavity squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Methods In total, 87 patients with T1 ( n = 59; 67.8%) and T2 ( n = 28; 32.2%) SCCs were evaluated regarding performance of END, regional recurrences (RR) and its impact on cancer-specific survival (CSS). We further created a risk score based on T-classification, tumor subsite and grading to identify patients whom may benefit from END and calculated the corresponding numbers needed to treat (NNT) to prevent RR. Results Nine (10.3%) patients experienced RR of whom 3 (5.1%) were T1 and 6 (21.4%) T2 tumors ( p = 0.042). All RR originated from moderately or poorly differentiated (G2–G3) SCCs of the nasal septum or vestibule. END was done in 15 (17.2%) patients and none of those experienced RR ( p = 0.121). Onset of RR represented the worst prognostic factor for CSS (HR 23.3; p = 0.007) with a 5y-CSS of 44.4% vs. 97.3% ( p < 0.001). RR occurred in none of the patients with no or low risk scores compared to 31.6% (6/19) in patients with high-risk scores ( p = 0.006). Accordingly, three high-risk patients would need to undergo END (NNT 2.63) to prevent RR compared to a NNT of 8 for the whole cohort. Conclusions Although rare, occurrence of RR significantly deteriorates outcome in early stage nasal cavity SCCs, which could be effectively reduced by performance of END. The importance of END is currently underestimated and our proposed risk score helps identifying those patients who will benefit from END.