Surgical margins and nodal metastasis are prognostic factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma: A meta-analysis

Background: To find out whether surgical margins and nodal metastasis are prognostic factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Materials and Methods: PubMed search was done to look for studies done on surgical margins and nodal metastasis of OSCC from 2008 to 2018. Results: Fixed effects meta-analysis showed a pooled estimate absolute risk reduction of −3% (95% confidence interval [CI] [−8, 2.5%]). P =0.2819 from the fixed margin model shows no statistically significant difference between close margins with cases of deaths due to recurrence or metastasis. The pooled odds ratio was 0.87 (95% CI 0.63–1.99, P = 0.3928) for the comparison between clear and closed margins for estimating the odds. It should be noted that the mean unweighted local recurrence rate for margins 5 mm or greater was 4.9% with 95% CI as −10.7%, 0.8%. Conclusion: The study shows that close surgical margins with nodal metastasis have a poor prognosis in OSCC; however, no statistical significance was seen in this meta-analysis.