Do carcinomas of the floor of the mouth proper have spread patterns in the underlying anatomical structures?: A preliminary study

Abstract

There have been few studies on the spread pattern of carcinomas of the floor of the mouth even though this is crucial for navigation during ablation surgery for those tumors. In this preliminary study, anatomical structures constituting the floor of the mouth in resected materials from 20 patients with carcinoma of the floor of the mouth were histopathologically analyzed in terms of extent of invasive tumor cells. In 17 of the 20 patients, tumor cells extended into deep tissues. Sublingual gland and intrinsic tongue muscle were the most affected anatomical structures, being observed in 13/17 patients (77%) and 12/17 patients (71%), respectively. Tumor cells extending into the mylohyoid muscle or submandibular gland were not observed in this series. According to the sub-sites where tumors arose, there was a trend toward enhanced rate of tumor cells extending into the intrinsic tongue muscle and genioglossus muscle in the median type compared with the lateral type.
Conclusive results could not be drawn from this preliminary study. Further detailed investigation based on clinico-pathological observation of many cases is required to obtain more information for oral surgeons.