Clinical trial NCT04809324: Gross Examinations Versus Frozen Section for Assessment of Surgical Margins in Oral Cancers
Official title: Intra-operative Gross Examination Versus Frozen Section for Achievement of Adequate Margin in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Oral Cavity Cancer
Keywords: Oral squamous Cell carcinoma
frozen section
local recurrence
Lead sponsor: Tata Memorial Centre
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-03-22
Enrollment: 1206
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 100
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Surgical margin is a significant prognostic factor in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC)\[1,2,3\]. Intra-operative frozen section (FS) has been routinely used by the surgeons to achieve adequate surgical margins. However published literature has failed to show a conclusive benefit of FS in improving oncological outcomes(4-7). The overall identification rate of the inadequate margins by FS is variable with figures in the literature ranging from25-34%.(8-10)

Revision of margins based on FS is widely practiced in centers where facility for FS is available. However this has not shown to significantly improve local control when compared to cases in which FS was not utilized , in a comparative study done at Tata memorial Hospital(TMH) (5) More-over FS is a costly procedure, and sparsely available in resource- poor countries. In a recently conducted retrospective study of 1237 patients conducted at TMH, the cost benefit ratio of FS for assessment of margin is as low as 12:1(11). In another prospective study performed at the same center , investigators found that gross examination (GE) of margins by the surgeons was as effective as FS, and achievement of gross 7mm margin all around the tumor obviated the need for FS (12). In a recent meta-analysis of 8 studies that looked at the utility of frozen section and had uniformity in frozen section analysis and definition of close margins, they concluded that revision of margins based on FS does not improve oncological outcomes and further prospective studies are needed to explore this contentious issue (13). With this background, a prospective RCT is planned to explore if gross examination by surgeon and subsequent revision of margin (if necessary) is an equally effective alternative to Frozen section based revision in a randomized controlled trial.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Biopsy proven treatment naïve cases of OCSCC who are planned for curative surgery with en-bloc removal of the tumor with adequate margin
2. In detail assessment of the primary tumor is possible pre-operatively
3. Written informed consent
4. Age more than 18 years

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Multifocal disease
2. Clinically evident field cancerization
3. Previous treatment for oral cavity cancer - Surgery /chemo or radiotherapy -

Primary outcomes:
measure: local recurrence free survival (LRFS) between two arms
timeFrame: 2 years
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Accuracy of gross examination
timeFrame: 5 years
measure: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of GE and FS for the assessment of surgical margin
timeFrame: 5years
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Mumbai
country: India
facility: Tata Memorial Hospital
state: Maharashtra
city: Navi Mumbai
country: India
facility: ACTREC,Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer
state: Raigad
city: Varanasi
country: India
facility: Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Cancer Centre
state: Uttar Pradesh
Study officials:
affiliation: Tata Memorial Centre
name: Pankaj Chaturvedi, MS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Looser KG, Shah JP, Strong EW. The significance of "positive" margins in surgically resected epidermoid carcinomas. Head Neck Surg. 1978 Nov-Dec;1(2):107-11. doi: 10.1002/hed.2890010203.
citation: Loree TR, Strong EW. Significance of positive margins in oral cavity squamous carcinoma. Am J Surg. 1990 Oct;160(4):410-4. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9610(05)80555-0.
citation: Chen TY, Emrich LJ, Driscoll DL. The clinical significance of pathological findings in surgically resected margins of the primary tumor in head and neck carcinoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1987 Jun;13(6):833-7. doi: 10.1016/0360-3016(87)90095-2.
citation: Pathak KA, Nason RW, Penner C, Viallet NR, Sutherland D, Kerr PD. Impact of use of frozen section assessment of operative margins on survival in oral cancer. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod. 2009 Feb;107(2):235-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tripleo.2008.09.028. Epub 2008 Dec 13.
citation: Mair M, Nair D, Nair S, Dutta S, Garg A, Malik A, Mishra A, Shetty Ks R, Chaturvedi P. Intraoperative gross examination vs frozen section for achievement of adequate margin in oral cancer surgery. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2017 May;123(5):544-549. doi: 10.1016/j.oooo.2016.11.018. Epub 2016 Dec 7.
citation: Kovacs AF. Relevance of positive margins in case of adjuvant therapy of oral cancer. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2004 Jul;33(5):447-53. doi: 10.1016/j.ijom.2003.10.015.
citation: Scholl P, Byers RM, Batsakis JG, Wolf P, Santini H. Microscopic cut-through of cancer in the surgical treatment of squamous carcinoma of the tongue. Prognostic and therapeutic implications. Am J Surg. 1986 Oct;152(4):354-60. doi: 10.1016/0002-9610(86)90304-1.
citation: DiNardo LJ, Lin J, Karageorge LS, Powers CN. Accuracy, utility, and cost of frozen section margins in head and neck cancer surgery. Laryngoscope. 2000 Oct;110(10 Pt 1):1773-6. doi: 10.1097/00005537-200010000-00039.
citation: Ord RA, Aisner S. Accuracy of frozen sections in assessing margins in oral cancer resection. J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 1997 Jul;55(7):663-9; discussion 669-71. doi: 10.1016/s0278-2391(97)90570-x.
citation: Ribeiro NF, Godden DR, Wilson GE, Butterworth DM, Woodwards RT. Do frozen sections help achieve adequate surgical margins in the resection of oral carcinoma? Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2003 Apr;32(2):152-8. doi: 10.1054/ijom.2002.0262.
citation: Datta S, Mishra A, Chaturvedi P, Bal M, Nair D, More Y, Ingole P, Sawakare S, Agarwal JP, Kane SV, Joshi P, Nair S, D'Cruz A. Frozen section is not cost beneficial for the assessment of margins in oral cancer. Indian J Cancer. 2019 Jan-Mar;56(1):19-23. doi: 10.4103/ijc.IJC_41_18.
citation: Chaturvedi P, Datta S, Nair S, Nair D, Pawar P, Vaishampayan S, Patil A, Kane S. Gross examination by the surgeon as an alternative to frozen section for assessment of adequacy of surgical margin in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Head Neck. 2014 Apr;36(4):557-63. doi: 10.1002/hed.23313. Epub 2013 Jun 14.
citation: Bulbul MG, Tarabichi O, Sethi RK, Parikh AS, Varvares MA. Does Clearance of Positive Margins Improve Local Control in Oral Cavity Cancer? A Meta-analysis. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2019 Aug;161(2):235-244. doi: 10.1177/0194599819839006. Epub 2019 Mar 26.