Cut margins and disease control in oral cancers

Aim: This retrospective study was done to evaluate the impact of cut margins on disease-free survival in patients with previously untreated oral squamous cell cancers. Materials and Methods: Records of 306 cases were reviewed for clinical details and status of margins at resection. The independent influence of margins on recurrence was analyzed. The impact of frozen section analysis on achieving free margins was also examined. Results: 190 (62.1%) patients had negative margins of resection (>= 5 mm), 102 (33.3%) patients had close margins (1-5 mm), while 14 (4.6%) patients had positive margins (<= 1 mm). The median follow-up for the entire cohort was 26.5 months. There were 79 (25.8%) recurrences, of which, 46 (58.2%) were local, 9 (11.3%) were locoregional, 16 (20.2%) were regional, and 8 (10.1%) were distant metastasis. 42 (22.2%) cases with negative margins developed a recurrence as compared to 31 (30.4%) cases with close margins and 6 (42.8%) cases with positive margins (P value 0.01). Average time to recurrence in case of negative margins was 34.8 months, for close margins was 33.9 months, while in those with positive margins was 10.18 months (P value 0.002). Close and positive margins were found to be significantly associated with increased local recurrence (P values 0.01 and 0.03, respectively) and with overall recurrence (P values 0.003 and 0.003, respectively). Frozen section was seen to influence margins in 20.4% cases. Conclusion: Margins are an important predictor of disease control. The surgeon must aim for adequate margins at initial resection.