rmnldwg/lydata: 2021-oropharynx

Dataset: We provide a dataset on lymphatic metastatic progression in head & neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). 287 patients with newly diagnosed oropharyngeal SCC treated at a single institution between 2013 and 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. For each patient, lymph node level (LNL) involvement for levels I to VII was recorded together with clinicopathological factors including TNM-stage, primary tumor subsite, tumor lateralization, HPV status, sex, age, smoking status, and primary treatment. Ipsilateral and contralateral LNL involvement was assessed individually based on available diagnostic modalities (PET, MRI, CT, FNA) by reviewing pathology and radiology reports together with the images. The data is shared as a large CSV-table with rows of patients and columns of patient/tumor-specific information and the involvement of individual LNL based on the respective diagnostic modalities.

Reuse potential: While prevalence of LNL involvement has been reported previously, patterns of lymphatic progression have never been reported on a patient-individual basis in as much detail as provided in this dataset. The data can be used to build quantitative models for lymphatic tumor progression to estimate the probability of occult metastases in LNL, which may allow for further personalized elective clinical target volume definition in radiotherapy. The data can be pooled with other data to build large multi-institutional datasets on lymphatic metastatic progression in the future.