Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of and risk factors for contralateral cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) from squamous cell carcinoma arising in the mobile part of the tongue.
Retrospective reviews of the tumor patient registry between 1985and 1999 revealed 84 patients with newly diagnosed carcinoma of the mobile part of the tongue that had been controlled by initial treatment. Thirteen of these patients (15.5%) had CLNM. On stepwise logistic regression analysis, T-stage, histopathological grade, and level of ipsilateral cervical lymph node metastasis were found to be significant predictors of CLNM. Our results suggest that CLNM is unlikely in patients with T 1 tongue cancer or no involvement of ipsilateral lymph nodes. It was also suggested that we should pay careful attention to CLNM in patients with advancing T-stage, histopathological grade, or level of ipsilateral lymph node metastasis.
