Non-Cochrane · prognostic · PM41273748
Impact of surgical margins on recurrence and survival rate in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Rubert A, Bagan L, Proaño A, et al. · Medicina oral, patologia oral y cirugia bucal · 2026 · PubMed · doi:10.4317/medoral.27784
Findings
27 findings
| Population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Woo 2023 removed | OR 2.751 [2.062, 3.669] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Cariati 2019 removed | RR 0.654 [0.619, 0.691] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Jain 2020 removed | RR 0.658 [0.623, 0.695] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Lin 2021 removed | RR 0.696 [0.626, 0.773] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma undergoing curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (mostly <5 mm; study definitions varied) | Negative surgical margins (mostly 5 mm or more; one study 10 mm or more) | Overall survival (5-year) Not specified · Overall, fixed-effects (sensitivity) | RR 0.656 [0.621, 0.693] GRADE not reported 12 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Chang 2019 removed | RR 0.657 [0.622, 0.694] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Cheng 2012 removed | RR 0.640 [0.605, 0.677] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Random-effects model | RR 0.634 [0.545, 0.738] Moderate 12 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Kral 2022 removed | OR 2.648 [1.970, 3.559] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Kendall 2017 removed | OR 2.312 [1.693, 3.158] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Mitchell 2018 removed | RR 0.656 [0.620, 0.693] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Ling 2013 removed | OR 2.998 [2.209, 4.068] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Woo 2023 removed | RR 0.657 [0.622, 0.694] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Jasjit 2015 removed | RR 0.657 [0.622, 0.694] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Singh 2020 removed | OR 2.702 [2.026, 3.605] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Ling 2013 removed | RR 0.658 [0.623, 0.695] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Jain 2020 removed | OR 2.878 [2.123, 3.901] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Bajwa 2020 removed | RR 0.647 [0.612, 0.685] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Cariati 2019 removed | OR 2.958 [2.173, 4.026] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Jasjit 2015 removed | OR 2.700 [2.021, 3.608] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Dik 2014 removed | OR 2.724 [2.040, 3.636] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Fixed-effects model | OR 2.719 [2.043, 3.619] Moderate 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Kral 2022 removed | RR 0.658 [0.623, 0.695] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Overall survival at 5 years 5 years · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Hakim 2021 removed | RR 0.663 [0.628, 0.701] GRADE not reported 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Patel 2023 removed | OR 2.718 [2.000, 3.695] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma undergoing curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (mostly <5 mm; study definitions varied) | Negative surgical margins (mostly 5 mm or more; one study 10 mm or more) | Local recurrence Not specified · Overall, random-effects | OR 2.690 [1.921, 3.767] Moderate 11 studies |
| Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma treated with curative surgical resection | Positive surgical margins (<5 mm) | Negative surgical margins (>=5 mm) | Local recurrence Follow-up 1 to 5 years across studies · Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis, Hakim 2021 removed | OR 2.565 [1.868, 3.522] GRADE not reported 10 studies |
Included primary studies 16
Open in Studies| Study | Year | Also included by | Outcomes it informs here | Trial data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bajwa 2020 The relevance of surgical margins in clinically early oral squamous cell carcinoma. PMID:32711167 | 2020 | 1 other review | Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Cariati 2019 What is the real prognostic value of close margins in oral oncology? PMID:31481249 | 2019 | 1 other review | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Chen 2012 The impact of pathologic close margin on the survival of patients with early stage oral squamous cell carcinoma. PMID:22349276 | 2012 | 1 other review | Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Dillon 2015 How does the close surgical margin impact recurrence and survival when treating oral squamous cell carcinoma? PMID:25795179 | 2015 | 1 other review | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Lin 2021 Adequate surgical margins for oral cancer: A Taiwan cancer registry national database analysis. PMID:34049257 | 2021 | 1 other review | Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Chang 2019 A histopathological evaluation and potential prognostic implications of oral squamous cell carcinoma with adverse features. PMID:31345396 | 2019 | this review only | Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Dik 2014 Resection of early oral squamous cell carcinoma with positive or close margins: relevance of adjuvant treatment in relation to local… PMID:24630900 | 2014 | this review only | Local recurrence | not extracted yet |
| Hakim 2021 Impact of stratified resection margin classification on local tumor control and survival in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. PMID:34416792 | 2021 | this review only | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Jain 2020 Redefining adequate margins in oral squamous cell carcinoma: outcomes from close and positive margins. PMID:31897720 | 2020 | this review only | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Kral 2022 Evaluation of resection margins in oral squamous cell carcinoma. PMID:36868815 | 2023 | this review only | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Ling 2013 Survival pattern and prognostic factors of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue: a retrospective analysis of 210 cases. PMID:23265849 | 2013 | this review only | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Mitchell 2018 Margins and survival in oral cancer. PMID:30220612 | 2018 | this review only | Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
| Patel 2023 Predicting recurrence in oral cavity cancers: a review of 116 patients with buccal mucosa carcinoma in northwestern India. PMID:37919907 | 2023 | this review only | Local recurrence | not extracted yet |
| Singh 2020 Optimum surgical margins in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue: Is the current definition adequate? PMID:32739791 | 2020 | this review only | Local recurrence | not extracted yet |
| Tasche 2017 Definition of "Close Margin" in Oral Cancer Surgery and Association of Margin Distance With Local Recurrence Rate. PMID:28445581 | 2017 | this review only | Local recurrence | not extracted yet |
| Woo 2023 Surgery for maxillary oral squamous cell carcinoma: the effect of surgical resection margins and elective neck dissection on oncological… PMID:35851181 | 2023 | this review only | Local recurrence; Overall survival at 5 years | not extracted yet |
Overlap with other reviews
Reviews that include the same primary studies are not independent evidence. Shared counts match studies by PMID, DOI or NCT, and otherwise by author and year (a probable match). Only the non-Cochrane dental reviews have study lists, so overlap with Cochrane reviews is not counted yet.
| Review | Shared studies | Jaccard |
|---|---|---|
| Prognostic value of surgical margin and margin to depth of invasion ratio in oral squamous cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis. (2026) | 5 | 0.06 |
Review question
| Element | Planned (methods) | Found (results) |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma, clinical and histopathological diagnosis | Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (n=20,812) |
| Intervention | Curative surgical resection | Curative surgical resection |
| Comparison | Status of surgical margins (positive vs negative) | Positive margins (n=1,442) vs negative margins (n=10,359) |
| Outcomes | Recurrence; patient survival rate | Local recurrence (n=11 studies); survival (n=12 studies) |
| Study designs | Prospective and retrospective observational studies | 15 retrospective cohort studies and 1 prospective cohort study (n=16) |
| Timing | Published in the last 10 years | Follow-up 1 to 5 years |