Significance of tumour budding and invasive characteristics in grading of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Tumour budding has been recognized as a morphologic marker of tumour invasion. Invasive characteristics such as depth of invasion, mode of invasion and worst pattern of invasion are potentially powerful parameters predicting the regional metastasis. Aim: This study was done to understand the significance of tumour budding and various characteristics of invasion and their impact on grading of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: An immunohistochemical study was performed on tissue sections obtained from 34 paraffin-embedded blocks of clinically and histologically diagnosed cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma. The sections were stained with pan cytokeratin and observed under high power magnification. Results: Tumour budding and the invasive patterns were found to be significant in OSCC. A proposed grading system based on tumour budding and cell nest was found to have a significant correlation with the WHO grading system. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the importance of using tumour buds as an additional parameter in the grading system and also assessed the importance of invasive patterns, cellular atypia and stromal contents in OSCC.