Clinical investigation of oral cancer in Adolescent and Young Adult （AYA） generation

Abstract

The term “Adolescent and Young Adult （AYA） generation” is commonly used in oncology. We retrospectively studied both clinical characteristics and therapy in AYA patients with oral cancer who were between 16 and 40 years old at the initial visit to our department, focusing on clinical items such as gender, age distribution, tumor site, pathological classification, stage, treatment, treatment outcome and social rehabilitation. There were 42 patients （male, 19; female, 23）, accounting for 5.7％ of the total number of patients with oral cancer in our department. Most of them were 35 to 39 years old （median, 30.9 years）. The most frequent site of tumor occurrence was the tongue and the most common histological type of cancer was squamous cell carcinoma, in 29 and 30 AYA patients with cancer, respectively. Most patients had T2NO cancer based on the TNM classification and early stage Ⅱ. Thirty-nine patients underwent radical surgery, including 14 cases of surgery only, 6 of chemo-radiation therapy only, 4 of surgery with chemotherapy, and 2 of surgery with radiation therapy. On the other hand, 9 patients underwent radical radiation therapy, including 5 cases of internal irradiation therapy and 4 of chemo-radiation therapy only. The 5-year overall survival rate in AYA patients with oral cancer （79.67％） was statistically superior to that of older patients （68.48％）（P＝0.034）. Seven patients died of cancer. Treatment outcomes of AYA patients were favorable. Thirty-two AYA patients with oral cancer, except for 2 patients who could not be followed and 1 patient who had continued to receive treatment on the investigation date, returned to society.