# Anil K. D'Cruz

Source: https://onco.cc/people/dcruz-anil/  
OnCo record `dcruz-anil` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Led the Tata Memorial trial that settled a decades-old question, showing that removing neck lymph nodes at the first operation for early oral cancer saves lives.

## Summary

Anil D'Cruz is a head and neck surgeon who directed Tata Memorial Hospital before moving to Apollo Hospitals, and has served as President of the Union for International Cancer Control. He was principal investigator of the randomised trial of elective versus therapeutic neck dissection in node-negative oral cancer (596 enrolled, 500 analysed), which found 3-year overall survival of 80.0% with elective dissection against 67.5% with watchful waiting (hazard ratio 0.64) and changed guidelines worldwide. His work spans oral cancer surgery, thyroid cancer and cancer control policy for low- and middle-income countries.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Role: Head and neck surgical oncologist; former Director, Tata Memorial Hospital; Director of Oncology, Apollo Hospitals
- Specialisms: Head and neck surgery; Oral cancer; Neck dissection; Global cancer control

## Sources

- Apollo Hospitals: https://www.apollohospitals.com
- Union for International Cancer Control: https://www.uicc.org
- PubMed author search: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=D'Cruz%20AK%5BAuthor%5D%20Tata%20Memorial%20head%20and%20neck

## Connected records

- cancers: [Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/head-and-neck/)
- technologies: [Sentinel lymph node biopsy](https://onco.cc/technologies/sentinel-node/)
- institutions: [Apollo Hospitals (Apollo Cancer Centres)](https://onco.cc/institutions/apollo-hospitals/), [Tata Memorial Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/tata-memorial/)
- trials: [Elective vs therapeutic neck dissection in node-negative oral cancer (Tata Memorial)](https://onco.cc/trials/elective-neck-dissection-tmh/)
- key papers: [Elective versus therapeutic neck dissection in node-negative oral cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-dcruz-elective-neck-dissection-nejm-2015/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/dcruz-anil.json