The Deleterious nature of the invasive front and dysplasia at margin in the long term outcome from surgical treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Discussion The nature of the invasive front should be considered in any prognostic discussion and when planning surgery. Transfusion triggers should be revised to avoid transfusion of blood products (which have cancer growth promoting properties). The survival rates after recurrence of disease is  poor, in part due to the entrenched adaptive behaviors of the residual tumour cells which manifest several areas of resilience (i.e. radiotherapy, chemotherapy) and which may have already invaded local important structures (making them resilient to surgery ).   To improve the overall survival rates, we must address the surgical margin from the onset before considering adjunctive treatments which alter local vasculature (blood and lymphatic) and tumour spread patterns. Intra-operative margin analysis is important to address regions of concern before wound healing becomes entrenched and the chance to take corrective action is missed.  
Source: Head and Neck Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research