Wu K, et al. - Researchers examined tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) patients (n = 141) staged as T_1–2N₀ to determine the predictive ability of pathological characteristics on cervical lymph node relapse and prognosis (disease free survival). Participants were followed-up for 60 months. According to the findings, a potent risk factor for TSCC cervical lymph node relapse was trabes growth pattern of invasive front, which was also suggestive of a poor prognosis. A higher risk of metastasis was observed in relation smoking and alcohol consumption. For certain patients, preventive therapy, including selective neck dissection, was recommended.