Brown classification of a maxillary defect and prognosis
Reviewed by Stuart Clark

This is a retrospective study from Peking over the 10-year period, 2000-2010, for 137 patients with maxillary squamous cell carcinoma assessed. The overall survival rate was comparable with other studies at 64.8%. The most common Brown maxillary defect was 2b and the classification of the maxillary defect was shown to have a correlation with the T stage. It was then concluded that both of these were prognostic factors of patients with maxillary squamous cell carcinoma. They concluded that the classification of the defect was a more convenient measure for clinical application in predicting the prognosis when compared to the T staging. All the patients in this study were known to have negative margins, confirmed intraoperatively by frozen section, and verified postoperatively in paraffin section. They acknowledged that they were unable to comment upon the effect of radiotherapy due to the small numbers involved. It was also noted that there was no significant correlation found between Brown class and tumour recurrence.

Does the Brown classification of maxillectomy defects have prognostic prediction of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma involving the maxilla?
Q Sun, W-B Zhang, M Gao, et al.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY
2020;49(9):1135-42.