Purpose: To assess the prognostic values of the T classification of the 8th edition of the American Joint Committee of Cancer staging system and compare it to the 7th edition.
Methods: Multicenter retrospective study of patients with eyelid sebaceous gland carcinoma. The primary outcome measure was the differences between outcomes when tumors were staged with either 7th or 8th edition. The measures evaluated included presenting features, management, histopathology, metastasis, recurrence, and mortality.
Results: Of the 60 patients (median age 73 years), 31 (51.7%) were females. A change in T staging occurred in 39 patients (65%) when the 8th edition was applied. Advanced categories (T3/T4) were significantly associated with nodal metastasis (p = 0.037) using the 8th edition criteria but not with the 7th edition (p = 0.066). The 8th edition T categorization significantly correlated with eye survival (p = 0.022) while the 7th edition did not (p = 0.058). Applying the 8th edition, category T4 at presentation was associated with a higher risk of nodal metastasis (p = 0.037) but not associated with local recurrence, distant metastasis, or tumor-related death (p = 0.281, p = 0.737, p = 0.319, respectively). T3/T4 category tumors were significantly associated with poor tumor differentiation (p = 0.001), and papillary histologic pattern (p = 0.024) but not with pagetoid spread (p = 0.056).
Conclusion: The application of the 8th edition AJCC staging system for eyelid SGC may accurately predict nodal metastasis. Local recurrence and distant metastasis were not significantly associated with T classification, using either edition. Poor tumor differentiation and papillary pattern were associated with T3/T4 categories suggesting that pathological features may assist in determining prognosis.
Keywords: AJCC; Eyelid; sebaceous gland carcinoma.