A large single-center cohort study should help doctors appraise the risk of metastasis of lid tumors using a newer method put forth by the American Joint Committee on Cancer.

Researchers in Texas performed a retrospective review of 100 consecutive patients with eyelid sebaceous carcinoma and evaluated how they were staged in tumor size and extent of lymph node involvement.

The findings suggested that an eyelid sebaceous carcinoma of approximately >20mm in greatest dimension correlates with increased risk for local recurrence, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and death from disease. When a tumor involves the full thickness of the eyelid, the risk for lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis is increased even for tumors of >10 mm.

The proportions of patients who experienced local recurrence, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and death from disease were 6%, 21%, 7% and 6%, respectively. Two-year and five-year disease-specific survival rates were 93.8% and 92.0%, respectively.

Researchers believe that the new classification should reduce interobserver variability and will give surgeons greater clarity in how to perform surveillance testing for nodal and systemic metastases.