Clinicopathological Study of Tongue Base Extension of Supraglottic Carcinomas

Abstract

We reviewed twenty-four patients (22 males and 2 females, with an average age of 66 years) afflicted by supraglottic carcinoma with tumor extension to the base of the tongue. These patients underwent curative treatment between 1977 and 2003 at the Kurume University Hospital.
Total laryngectomies were perfomed in 18 cases and partial laryngectomies were perfomed in 6 cases. The disease-specific 5-year survival rate was 77%. The 3-year local control rate was 88%. Local recurrence was recognized in 3 cases. Histopathological examination of these cases revealed tumor invasion into the preepiglottic space. Six patients died of the primary disease (3 by locoregional, 1 by lymph node and 2 by distant metastasis occurrences).
The retrospective study indicates that enough resection by a total laryngectomy is necessary for cases with tumor invasion into the pre-epiglottic space while a partial laryngectomy should be applied for supraglottic carcinoma without invasion into the pre-epiglottic space.