Malignancy grading is no better than conventional histopathological grading in small squamous cell carcinoma of tongue and floor of mouth: retrospective study in 128 patients.

There is an ongoing debate about the predictive value of histopathological parameters in oral cancer. In the past decades, the emphasis was on the possible added value of the so-called malignancy grading system. In a retrospective study on 128 previously untreated patients with a T1 or T2 squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and the floor of the mouth, the value of the classical Broders' grading system and the malignancy grading system were compared with regard to various outcome measures such as regional metastasis, local recurrence and 5-year survival. The results show that neither of the histological grading systems has a strong predictive value and that none is superior to the other.