Comparison of the 7th and revised 8th UICC editions (2020) for oral squamous cell carcinoma: How does the reclassification impact staging and survival?

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of reclassification on staging and, subsequently, the survival of patients with OSCC. Primary OSCCs from 391 patients were classified according to the 7th and revised 8th UICC editions (2020). Stage migration was assessed, and stage-specific progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated using the Kaplan –Meier method. The log-rank test was used to compare the different stages. Cox-proportional hazard modeling was used to compare the two editions. Incorporating the DOI into the T classification resulted in an upstaging of 77 patients, constituting 19.69% of the cohort. In addition, 49 (12.53%) pat ients experienced an upstaging when considering ENE in the N classification. Consequently, 103 patients underwent upstaging in UICC staging, accounting for 21.74% of cases. Upstaging mainly occurred from stage III to IVA (26.92%) and from stage IVA to IVB (31.78%). Upon comparing the categories in s urvival analysis, significant differences in OS and PFS were especially observed between stage IVB and lower stages. When examining the hazard ratios, it became evident that UICC 8 stage IVB is burdened by a 5.59-fold greater risk of disease progression than stage I. Furthermore, UICC 8 stage IVB ex hibits a 3.83 times higher likelihood of death than stage I disease. We demonstrated significant stage migration from the 7th to the revised 8th UICC edition. Overall, incorporating DOI and ENE into the T and N classification...
Source: Virchows Archiv - Category: Pathology Source Type: research