Abstract
Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue sometimes develops into regional lymph node metastasis after ablative surgery. Delayed cervical lymph node metastasis is one of the prognostic factors. The relationship between delayed cervical lymph node metastasis and clinico-pathological prognostic factors was investigated in N0 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Sixty-five patients (T1: 28 cases, T2: 35 cases, T3: 2 cases) were enrolled between January 1991 and December 2006 in this study. The mean age of the patients was 60.6 years. All patients received partial glossectomy alone. The 10-year cumulative overall survival rate was 84.6%. The 10-year cumulative local recurrence rate was 16.7%. We also investigated the delayed cervical lymph node metastasis in 58 cases with no local recurrence and delayed cervical lymph node metastasis that developed in 15 cases, and the cumulative delayed cervical lymph node metastasis rate was 27.0%. The metastasis rate was significantly higher in the endophytic clinical type than the other types. Delayed cervical lymph node metastasis occurred in 42.9% in YK-4C and 48.1% in YK-4D and the metastasis rate was significantly higher than the other types of mode of invasion. Delayed cervical lymph node metastasis developed in 53.3% of the cases with pathological lymphatic invasion. These results suggest that the risk factors for delayed neck metastasis of N0 tongue cancers are endophytic clinical type, YK-4C and YK-4D type of mode of invasion and the presence of lymphatic invasion.
