Clinical and pathological risk factors for worse stage and mortality of eyelid and periocular squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundThe clinical and pathological risk factors for worse T stage and prognosis in eyelid and periocular squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) remain unclear. P63 was reported to predict a worse prognosis in other SCCs; however, this correlation was not validated in eyelid and periocular SCCs.MethodsWe reported on a retrospective case series of 85 consecutive patients with eyelid and periocular SCCs from 1995 to 2019. Cox proportional hazards regression models and logistic regression models were applied for risk factor analysis.ResultsThirty-nine (45.8%) patients were diagnosed with T4 SCCs. Four (5.1%) patients developed nodal metastasis, and five (6.4%) patients developed distant metastasis during the follow-up. 2-year and 5-year disease-specific survival rates were 95.3% and 86.4%, respectively. Poorly or moderately differentiated eyelid and periocular SCCs were associated with worse T stage (p=0.001; p=0.008). Poor differentiation was associated with a higher risk of recurrence (p=0.024). Disease-specific death was more common in patients with T4 stage SCCs (p=0.038, HR=9.05). P63 expression was more common in patients with T3c or worse stage (p=0.008, OR=3.77). P63 expression alone was associated with worse differentiation (p=0.029), higher risk of perineural invasion (p=0.042, OR=4.61) and metastasis (p=0.009, HR=3.99). P63 expression (p=0.012, HR=7.80), coexpression of P63 and Ki67 (p=0.007, HR=9.21) and distant metastasis (p=0.001, HR=11.23) were associated with disease-specific death.ConclusionPatients presented with more aggressive orbital invasion features and a higher rate of distant metastasis in this cohort. P63 and coexpression of Ki67 predicted a worse stage, differentiation and prognosis, including metastasis and death due to disease.