title: Prognostic factors in tongue cancer - relative importance of demographic, clinical and histopathological factors.
abstract: The incidence of and mortality from squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue have increased during the recent decades in the Western world. Much effort has been made to predict tumour behaviour, but we still lack specific prognostic indicators. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relative importance of the known demographic, clinical and histological factors in a homogeneous population-based group of patients with SCC of the mobile tongue. The demographic and clinical factors were reviewed retrospectively from primary and tertiary care patient files. Histological prognostic factors were determined from pre-treatment biopsies. The TNM stage was found to be the most important prognostic factor. In particular, local spread outside the tongue rather than spread to regional lymph nodes was related to poor prognosis. Several demographic and histopathological factors were closely related to TNM stage. When the cases were divided into stage I-II carcinomas and stage III-IV carcinomas, it appeared that the patient's older age (> 65 years), a high malignancy score and an absence of overexpressed p53 protein were associated with a poorer prognosis in stage I-II carcinomas. Such cases may require more aggressive treatment. Among patients with stage III-IV carcinomas, heavy use of alcohol was significantly associated with a poor disease-specific survival time.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Diagnostics and Oral Medicine, Institute of Dentistry, Oulu University Hospital, University of Oulu, Aapistie 3, Oulu, 90220, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kantola
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parikka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jokinen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hyrynkangs
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Soini
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Alho
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D017209:Apoptosis; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D012923:Social Class; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53