title: Natural history and patterns of recurrence of tongue tumours.
abstract: This retrospective study comprises 226 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue treated at Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow between 1980 and 1996. The male:female ratio was 1.2:1 and the average age was 64 years. The ratio of anterior 2/3 to posterior 1/3 tongue lesions was 1.8:1. A total of 23% of patients were clinically staged as T1, 50% were T2 and 27% were T3/T4. At presentation 156 patients (69%) had a clinically negative neck, while 110 patients (49%) had a neck dissection at the time of treatment of the primary. A comparison between the clinical and pathological T and N stages highlighted the difficulties of clinical TNM staging with upstaging of the primary T stage in 21% of patients and downstaging in 6% and upstaging of neck disease in 36% and downstaging in 7.7%. The incidence of clinically occult disease in the neck was 41% including six patients (4.5%) with occult disease in the contralateral neck.
authors.affiliation: Plastic Surgery Unit, Canniesburn Hospital, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Haddadin
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Soutar
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: MacDonald
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011878:Radiotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013534:Survival; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017211:Treatment Failure; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology