Regional disease control in nasal vestibule squamous cell carcinoma: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To systematically analyze the regional disease control of nasal vestibule squamous cell carcinoma (NVSCC) after primary treatment. Methods: The study was performed according to the PRISMA guidelines, searching on Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases. Results: A total of 37 studies with 1861 patients (70.5 % males; median age of 58.2 years) were included. Overall, the cumulative regional recurrence (RR) rate was 10.7 % (95 %CI: 8.4 %-13.5 %) with a median follow-up of 51.7 months. The RR rate in clinical node negative patients who didn't undergo any elective neck treatment was 13.7 % (n = 548, 95 %CI: 9.7 %-19.0 %). When stratified by T stage, regardless of the classification used, RR rate was 10.4 % (n = 750, 95 % CI: 7.9 %-13.5 %) for T1-T2 tumors and 25.5 % (n = 102, 95 % CI: 16.4 %-37.4 %) for T3-T4 tumors. Conclusion: Elective neck treatment does not seem justified in patients with early-stage primary NVSCC. However, for locally advanced tumors, elective neck treatment should be strongly considered.