Recursive Partitioning to Determine Order of Significance of Regional Metastasis Characteristics in Head and Neck Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: The order of significance of clinicopathologic characteristics for the prognosis of patients with regional metastases from head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (HNcSCC) is not well characterized. This study aimed to understand the impact of the known characteristics, including the presence of immunosuppression, number of deposits, largest deposit size, location and laterality of deposits, and presence of extranodal extension (ENE) on overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS).
Methods: A retrospective study of 366 patients treated with curative intent for HNcSCC with regional metastatic disease was undertaken using recursive partitioning analysis (RPA).
Results: Using RPA modeling, the study determined that number of metastatic deposits carried the highest impact for both OS and DSS, followed by largest deposit size. The presence of ENE and immunosuppression was less significant.
Conclusions: The results from this study provide new evidence for identifying and stratifying high-risk patients with metastatic HNcSCC. This information will be valuable in determining future HNcSCC staging systems.
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