Evaluation of the quality of neck dissection in patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma

Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma is one of the leading localizations in the structure of head and neck cancers in the Russian federation and in the world. Neck metastases are the key criterion which influence to survival, recurrence, and distant metastases in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Neck dissection is a main step in the surgical treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma. This literature review analyzes data on possible methods for assessing the quality of neck dissection in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. Evaluation criteria can be conditionally divided into prognostic (lymph node extracapsular extension, the size of the largest neck metastasis, lymph node yield, lymph node ratio, metastasis topography) and qualitative (lymph node yield, lymph node ratio). Nowadays, there are some prognostic factors of surgical specimen after neck dissection which we use in clinical practice except for lymph node yield, lymph node ratio. This paper analyzes the criteria for an objective assessment of the quality of the operation “neck dissection”. The clinical and prognostic significance of these parametrs is considered.