A 54 year-old male patient with lateral lingual lymph node metastasis from tongue cancer is reported.
A well-differentiated T 2 N 0 squamous cell carcinoma of the right tongue border was treated primarily with interstitial radium irradiation. However, local recurrence was noted 4 months later. At the same time, a slight articular disorder developed.
Hemiglossectomy in conjunction with bilateral neck dissection was carried outby pullthrough operation. A solitary lesion 0.8cm in diameter was encountered abovethe greater cornu of the hyoid bone, invading into the digastric and hyoglossal muscles and the hypoglossal nerve. Hemiglossectomy was accompanied by the inclusion of the right half of the hyoid, upper part of the strap muscles and extracranial hypoglossal nerve in the surgical specimen.
From its anatomical location and histologic findings, the lesion exhibited metastasis in the lateral lingual node that showed extracapsular spread. No other cervical nodes were involved.
No evidence of disease was noted during the 6 month follow-up period.
