Guidelines for prognosis in head and neck cancer with nodal metastasis.

Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with cervical node metastasis were studied retrospectively to delineate the prognostic significance of certain clinical and histologic parameters. The patients were divided into radiated and non-radiated groups for analysis purposes. A good prognosis was found in non-radiated patients with an active nodal plasmacytic inflammatory response. No prognostic information was obtainable in observing the inflammatory response of nodes altered by radiation effects. Extranodal spread of the tumor indicated a poor prognosis for radiated and non-radiated patients, being more significant in the non-radiated ones. Patients receiving preoperative radiation must be separated from non-radiated patients in evaluating host response parameters for prognostic purposes.