Clinical and Biological Significance of Pretreatment Pain in Oral and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Scoping Review

This project contains the protocol, search strategy, screening records, data extraction files, and supporting materials for a scoping review on the clinical and biological significance of pretreatment pain in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The review aims to map clinical evidence on whether pretreatment pain is associated with prognosis, survival, perineural invasion, nodal metastasis, recurrence, and other aggressive clinicopathologic features. It also summarizes mechanistic evidence linking cancer-associated pain with tumor–nerve interactions, sensory nerve activation, perineural invasion, Schwann cell–tumor interactions, neuroimmune signaling, neurotrophic pathways, endothelin signaling, purinergic signaling, CGRP signaling, TRP channels, and extracellular vesicle-mediated neuron–tumor communication. The project follows a scoping review approach and is informed by PRISMA-ScR reporting principles.