The aim of this study was to determine the percentage of discordance between clinical (c) and pathological (p) TNM classifications in cases of oropharyngeal carcinoma and whether it influences recurrence rate and prognosis of primary disease. Fifty-one patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma who underwent primary surgical treatment were included in this retrospective study.
Discordance between clinical and pathological TNM classifications was 52.9% patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma. Discordance in T is a potential prognostic factor.
Improvement in cancer treatment to some extent relies on preoperative staging and should influence the decision about whether or not to administer adjuvant oncological treatment.