Surgical treatment for oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma: A retrospective study of 432 patients

Abstract

The incidence of oral cancer in Japan accounts for 1% of all cancers, with oral tongue cancer accounting for 60% of oral cancers based on the subsite. The most common histologic type is squamous cell carcinoma. This study aimed to evaluate the series of surgical treatments for 432 patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC). Initial surgical treatments for the primary site included partial glossectomy, hemiglossectomy, and total or subtotal glossectomy in 348, 58, and 26 patients, respectively. Therapeutic neck dissection, elective neck dissection, and subsequent neck dissection were performed in 74, 53, and 37 patients, respectively. Patients with advanced cases had level IIb, IV, and V metastasis and outside regional lymph node metastases. The cumulative 5-year disease-specific survival rate for OTSCC was 92.8%, and the rates for each stage were 96.6%, 93.9%, 84.1%, and 79.0% in stages I, II, III, and IV, respectively. The recurrence rate, overall salvage rate for recurrent cases, and rate for the additional surgical group were 10.4%, 46.7%, and 78.6%, respectively. Patients with multiple cervical lymph node metastases, extranodal extension, metastases to multiple levels, and lower neck metastases had poor prognosis. In conclusion, careful follow-up is necessary to detect recurrence of primary tumors at a stage when surgical treatment can be performed, and cervical lymph node status is one of the most important prognostic factors in OTSCC.

Prognostic nomogram for patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma: A SEER‐based study

“…Surgical treatment is used mainly for relatively small and superficial tongue lesions, especially for the treatment of early lesions located in the active part of the tongue. (Oikawa et al, 2021) Radiation therapy includes radical radiation therapy, radiation therapy plus surgical combination therapy, and palliative radiation therapy. The most important advantage of radiation therapy is that it can preserve the function of the patient's tongue.…”

“…(Huang et al, 2018;Nemade et al, 2022;Nichols et al, 2019;Zhu et al, 2018) In general, surgery is the main treatment method of tongue SCC, patients with early and medium-term tongue SCC can be treated simply by surgery, and patients should take a comprehensive treatment plan based on surgical treatment if it is advanced tongue SCC. (Funahara et al, 2017;Lim et al, 2021;Oikawa et al, 2021).…”

Prognostic impact of lingual lymph node metastasis in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue: a retrospective study

“…The oral cavity is the most common subsite of head and neck cancers 1 . More than 90% of malignancies in the oral cavity are squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) 1 , 2 , and SCCs of the tongue and floor of the mouth account for > 50% of primary oral SCCs 3 , 4 . Despite progress in diagnosis and treatment, survival in patients with advanced oral SCC has not improved significantly 5 , 6 .…”

MicroRNA-Based Markers of Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Buccal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systems Biology Approach

“…The incidence of OTSCC and BSCC is considered the first and second highest among all oral cancers, respectively [ 40 , 41 ]. MMP-13 inhibitors [ 42 ] may be effective treatments for improving survival rates in patients with OTSCC and BSCC because of the substantial role MMP-13 plays in the invasion of OC cells.…”