Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue: an analysis of prognostic factors.

Abstract

AIM:

To identify the prognostic significance of different factors in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

Seventy-seven patients with carcinoma of the tongue were treated radically at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre between 1980 and 1989. Twenty patients (26%) were treated by resection alone, 11 (14%) with radiotherapy alone, and 46 (60%) with combined resection and radiotherapy.

RESULTS:

Forty-seven patients (61%) had T(1-2), 28 (36%) T(3-4), and two T(x) tumours. The regional nodes were clear in 53 (69%) and contained metastases in 24 patients (31%). Thirty patients (39%) developed recurrences, which were local in 9, regional in 14, locoregional in 5, and locoregional with metastatic disease in 2. The five and 10-year overall actuarial survival for all patients were 65% and 53%, respectively, and the corresponding relapse-free survival 56% and 50%. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done of seven variables - age (<40 compared with >/=40 years), sex, chewing tobacco use, smoking, TNM stage, surgical margins (clear or invaded), and treatment (resection, radiotherapy, or the combination). On univariate analysis chewing tobacco (P=0.04), smoking (P=0.01), invaded resection margins (P=0.04), involved regional lymph nodes (P=0.009), T4 tumours, and patients treated with radiotherapy alone (P=0.001) were associated with poor overall survival. Factors associated with shorter relapse-free survival were age >40 (P=0.03), chewing tobacco (P=0.04), invaded resection margins (P=0.01), and smoking (P=0.01). On multivariate analysis, invaded resection margins and smoking (P=0.04)(P=0.02) were associated with shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival (P=0.03 and (P=0.01), while chewing tobacco independently influenced relapse-free survival only (P=0.03).

CONCLUSION:

Invaded resection margins and smoking were the only independent prognostic factors that affected both overall and relapse-free survival. Those who chewed tobacco were at high risk of locoregional failure.

• Authors: G El-Husseiny, A Kandil, A Jamshed, Y Khafaga, M Saleem, A Allam, N Al-Rajhi, A Al-Amro, A Y Rostom, M Abuzeid, A Otieschan, A D Flores
• Journal: The British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery (Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg) Vol. 38 Issue 3 Pg. 193-9 (Jun 2000) ISSN: 0266-4356 [Print] Scotland
• PMID: 10864725 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright 2000 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

Topics

• Adult
• Age Factors
• Analysis of Variance
• Carcinoma, Squamous Cell (diagnosis, mortality, pathology, therapy)
• Female
• Humans
• Likelihood Functions
• Lymphatic Metastasis
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Multivariate Analysis
• Neoplasm Invasiveness
• Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
• Neoplasm Staging
• Plants, Toxic
• Prognosis
• Smoking
• Survival Rate
• Tobacco, Smokeless
• Tongue Neoplasms (diagnosis, mortality, pathology, therapy)