Cervical metastases of oral maxillary squamous cell carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Cervical treatment of oral maxillary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) remains controversial. We determined the metastases incidence and evaluated its predictive factors. Systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted of 23 Chinese and English-language articles retrieved from PubMed, Ovid, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Chinese Scientific and Technological Journal databases. Total cervical metastases and occult metastases rate was 32% and 21%, respectively. Positive lymph node detection was likeliest from levels I to III. The maxillary gingival metastases rate was higher than that of the hard palate. Advanced-stage tumors had higher metastatic risk than early-stage tumors. Well-differentiated tumors had a significantly higher metastases rate than medium and poor-differentiation tumors. N0 cases had survival benefit compared with N+ cases. Metastases rate of oral maxillary SCC correlates significantly with T classification and pathological stage. T and N classifications impact outcome significantly. Therefore, levels I to III selective neck dissection is recommended for patients with T3/4 cN0 disease.