2013 Volume 76 Issue 1 Pages 23-27
We analyzed 48 patients with stage I or II tongue squamous cell carcinoma who had undergone partial glossectomy as a primary treatment during the past 10 years at the Second Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Osaka Dental University Hospital, from 1997 to 2006. There was local recurrence in 4 (12%) of the T1 patients and 1 (12%) of the T2 patients. All recurrent tumors were successfully controlled by a second resection, with a local control rate of 100%. Late lymph node metastasis was observed in 11 patients (23%) consisting of 4 with T1 and 7 with T2. Analysis of the relationship between the degree of histopathological differentiation and the mode of invasion showed that a poor differentiation and a higher tendency toward invasion were associated with a higher rate of late metastasis. The 5-year cumulative survival rates for stage I, stage II, and all stages were 92%, 84% and 90%, respectively.
Partial glossectomy for early tongue cancer achieved a high local control rate. However, late cervical lymph node metastasis occurred in a high percentage of patients with a strong tendency toward clinical and histopathological invasion. In such patients, indications for preventive neck dissection need to be investigated.
