[Prognostic significance of morphological features of the tumor front in the presence of micrometastases in laryngeal carcinoma--cytokeration antigens expression in lymph nodes].

Despite innumerous both therapeutic and histopathologic studies that have been performed no morphologic markers are currently available in order to predict the outcome in patients with laryngeal cancer. According to the recent reports tumor front grading (TFG) is one of the most reliable methods of estimation of the progress of the changes in the peripheral part of tumor. TFG seems to be one of the technics, which is able to assess the dynamics of the tumor growth quite precisely. In this study it was presented direct relation between morphological features of tumor front and the probability of micrometastases. The authors have analysed 22 cases of patients who were operated on the laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma in ENT Department Medical University of Lódź in the period of 1998-1999. Features of the TFG and its dependence on lymph node micrometastases, considered in immunohistochemistry with using of panel of cytokeratins (CKs) were analysed. Our study showed that feature such as TFG is very useful in prediction of micrometastases in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The statistical analysis showed significant correlation between TFG score and mode of invasion and depth of invasion. The presented study emphasizes that it is necessary to extend the traditional histopathological diagnosis by TFG, which might influence decisions regarding therapeutic management and could eventually lead to more appropriate and individualized therapy.