The second carcinoma of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue after successful radiotherapy to the tongue.
Of 221 patients with carcinoma of the mobile tongue treated by radiotherapy, 129 survived without local recurrence for 5 years or longer after initial treatment. These 129 patients were studied to determine the incidence of second carcinoma of the tongue which first appeared more than 5 years after the initial treatment. Modalities of irradiation were radium needle implantation and intraoral electron irradiation for 105 and 24 patients, respectively. Twenty-two of the patients were found to have second carcinoma of the tongue. The incidence appeared to increase as the amount of radiation given increased. No obvious relationships were observed between the second carcinoma and modality of irradiation, T classification, presence of leukoplakia before the treatment, degree of histological differentiation, or degree of radiation injury. There were moderate to severe radiation injuries in 50% of the patients treated by radium needle implantation. It is likely that most of the second carcinomas of the tongue represent the late appearance of one of the multicentric foci of the tumor, not a regrowth of the residual primary tumor. In spite of the rather high rate of second carcinoma of the tongue, radiotherapy remains an excellent modality of treatment when patients are properly selected.
National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
I
I
Ono
S
S
Ebihara
S
S
Egawa
Y
Y
Akine
D001918:Brachytherapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000473:pathology*; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy