Abstract
Thirty-seven patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue were treated initially with radiation. Seventeen of these patients subsequently received surgeries. The patients visited our clinic between January 1978 and December 1984. The five-year survival rate was 52% in all cases, 49% in the non-surgical group and 54 % in the surgical group. The two year control rate of the primary lesion was 55% (6/11) in the nonsurgical group, 86% (12/14) in the surgical group. The incidence of cervical lymph node metastasis or recurrence was higher in the surgical group than in non-surgical group. It is considered that a good prognosis can be expected with a high local control rate in non-surgical patients and with a low incidence of lymph node metastasis in surgical patients.
