Table 5. Summary of representative studies on sentinel lymph node biopsy in early OSCC

Author/year	Study design	Number of patients	Sensitivity	Negative predictive value	Key clinical finding
Yamauchi,201511)	Meta-analysis	987	0.86	0.94	High sensitivity and NPV in early HNSCC
Liu,20175)	Meta-analysis	3,566	0.87	0.94	High sensitivity and NPV in OSCC
Yang,20176)	Meta-analysis	1,084	0.92	0.96	High sensitivity and NPV in early tongue SCC
Molstrom,201913)	Prospective cohort	220	0.83	0.93	Identified atypical lymphatic drainage
den Toom,201914)	Retrospective multicenter cohort	53	0.75	0.98	SLNB feasible after previous neck treatment
Kim,20217)	Systematic review/meta-analysis	5,917	0.83	NR	High specificity supports SLNB as staging tool
Garrel,202012)	Phase III randomized equivalence trial	279 analyzed	NR	NR	Oncologic equivalence to END with lower morbidity
Hasegawa,202115)	Randomized multicenter noninferiority trial	271	NR	NR	Noninferior to END with reduced neck disability
Mallo Magarinos,20218)	Systematic review/meta-analysis	457	0.88	0.88	High sensitivity and specificity in T1/T2-N0 OSCC
Ionna,20249)	Retrospective cohort	122	NR	NR	High detection rate supports SLNB staging
Kolev,202610)	Consecutive cohort	40	0.92	0.96	High sensitivity and NPV in OTSCC
Seferin,202516)	Prospective non-randomized comparative study	70	0.78	1.00	No significant survival difference vs SND

NPV: negative predictive value,HNSCC: squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck,SCC: squamous cell carcinoma,OTSCC: oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.