Application of Modified ITBCC Criteria of Tumor Budding in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and its Correlation with Clinicopathological Parameters and Overall Survival.

AIM

To apply and correlate clinicopathological parameters and survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with tumor budding using the modified International Tumor Budding Consensus Conference (ITBCC) criteria for colorectal cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ethical clearance was sought from the institutional ethical clearance committee, and 121 consecutive cases of excised cases OSCC (with neck dissection and adequate follow-up) were included in the present study. The cases were divided into two groups- with tumor budding (TB) and without TB and were correlated with clinicopathological features. The TB-positive cases were further classified into four classes using modified ITBCC criteria as TB0, TB1, TB2 and TB3. IBM SPSS version 26 was used for analysis, and any value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULT

Cases with tumor budding showed more nodal metastasis (p-value: <0.001) and lower overall survival (p-value: 0.038). No significant difference was found between tumor budding and any other clinical and histopathological parameter (p-value: >0.05).

CONCLUSION

Tumor budding is an independent predictor of nodal metastasis and poorer overall survival in OSCC. Tumor budding at the invasive tumor front should be included in the pathological report and deserves inclusion in staging and grading.