Comparison of sentinel lymph node biopsy and elective neck dissection for early oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma patients with clinically node-negative necks: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: This study aimed to compare the prognostic utility of sentinel node biopsy and elective neck dissection in early stage clinically node-negative oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma patients.Method: PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to March 2022. Hazard ratios, Kaplan-Meier curves, p-values and survival outcomes were extracted.Results: Twelve studies involving 10 583 patients were included. No significant differences in overall survival between sentinel node biopsy and elective neck dissection groups were found. Heterogeneity was not detected in pooled overall survival, disease-free survival and disease-specific survival analyses (all I-2 less than 50). In subgroup analyses by follow-up period, sentinel node biopsy and elective neck dissection had similar prognostic value.Conclusion: Sentinel node biopsy might be a valuable alternative to elective neck dissection for the management of early stage clinically node-negative oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.