Natural history and patterns of recurrence of tongue tumours

Br J Plast Surg. 2000 Jun;53(4):279-85. doi: 10.1054/bjps.1999.1111.

Abstract

This retrospective study comprises 226 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue treated at Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow between 1980 and 1996. The male:female ratio was 1.2:1 and the average age was 64 years. The ratio of anterior 2/3 to posterior 1/3 tongue lesions was 1.8:1. A total of 23% of patients were clinically staged as T1, 50% were T2 and 27% were T3/T4. At presentation 156 patients (69%) had a clinically negative neck, while 110 patients (49%) had a neck dissection at the time of treatment of the primary. A comparison between the clinical and pathological T and N stages highlighted the difficulties of clinical TNM staging with upstaging of the primary T stage in 21% of patients and downstaging in 6% and upstaging of neck disease in 36% and downstaging in 7.7%. The incidence of clinically occult disease in the neck was 41% including six patients (4.5%) with occult disease in the contralateral neck.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Clinical Protocols
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Recurrence, Local* / pathology
  • Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / mortality
  • Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / pathology
  • Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / surgery*
  • Radiotherapy
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival
  • Tongue Neoplasms / mortality
  • Tongue Neoplasms / pathology
  • Tongue Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Treatment Failure
  • United Kingdom / epidemiology