Patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC) need to make important treatment decisions concerning the neck. Considering the possibility of “occult metastasis”, several patients with no detectable metastases are given elective neck dissections. Although this strategy eliminates potential metastatic lymph nodes, most patients receive unnecessary neck dissections. The incidences of these unfavorable treatments would be reduced if metastatic risk can be estimated more accurately. Biomarkers in primary tumor may be predictive of cervical metastases in OSCC. This article will review related studies published recently, and will come up with a prospection of its clinical applications.
