What do systematic reviews say?

Surgery plus radiotherapy vs Chemotherapy (chemoradiotherapy)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  oral cavity
  Disease-free survival: not reported (Iyer 2015).
  0 studies
  No studies found

Surgery plus radiotherapy vs Radiotherapy alone

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Disease-free survival: not reported.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Supraomohyoid neck dissection vs Modified radical neck dissection

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Disease-free survival: not reported (Guo 2014 reported disease-specific survival, not a review outcome).
  0 studies
  No studies found

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Disease-free survival: outcome not reported in a usable way (Mehanna 2017: disease-specific and other-cause mortality did not differ, P=0.80 and 0.41).
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Superselective neck dissection vs Elective selective neck dissection

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  36 months
  Disease-free survival: Pandey 2018 reported 83% (superselective) vs 91% (selective) at median 36 months, not significant (P=0.69); unable to analyse (variable follow-up); 32 participants (1 RCT).
  1 study · 32 participants
  Very low

Surgery vs Radiotherapy alone

Surgery showed no clear difference in disease-free survival (new disease, progression, and mortality) compared with radiotherapy alone (low certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 years
  HR 1.07 [0.27, 4.22]
  1 study · 68 participants
  Low

Sentinel node biopsy (neck dissection only if biopsy positive) vs Elective neck dissection

Sentinel node biopsy (neck dissection only if biopsy positive) showed no clear difference in disease-free survival (new disease, progression, and mortality) compared with elective neck dissection (low certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 years
  HR 0.98 [0.90, 1.07]
  1 study · 279 participants
  Low

Elective neck dissection (at time of primary tumour resection) vs Therapeutic (delayed) neck dissection

Elective neck dissection (at time of primary tumour resection) probably leads to lower disease-free survival (new disease, progression, and mortality) compared with therapeutic (delayed) neck dissection (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 years
  HR 0.56 [0.45, 0.70]
  5 studies · 954 participants
  Moderate

Elective radical (comprehensive) neck dissection vs Elective selective neck dissection

It is very uncertain whether elective radical (comprehensive) neck dissection changes disease-free survival (new disease, progression, and mortality) compared with elective selective neck dissection (very low certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  5 years
  HR 0.57 [0.29, 1.11]
  1 study · 104 participants
  Very low