title: Prognostic significance of late cervical metastasis and distant failure in patients with stage I and II oral tongue cancers.
abstract: Stage I and II oral tongue cancers (OTC) generally have a favorable prognosis, but there are some early OTC cases with a poor prognosis. OTC is known for its propensity for subclinical nodal metastasis and, moreover, we must devise a strategy that takes account of the possibility of recurrence and distant metastasis. In the current study, 90 previously untreated patients with stage I or II OTC who underwent surgical treatment were eligible for review. The authors investigated the associations of their clinico-pathologic factors with disease outcomes, and also examined the postoperative course for patients with a poor prognosis. The most common cause of death was distant metastasis and late cervical lymph node metastasis (LCM) was the significantly independent prognostic variable. Since LCM can be treated with salvage surgery, the central issue is to control patients with distant metastises who are free of disease in their loco-regional sites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Aichi Cancer Center, 1-1 Kanokoden, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hyodo
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanai
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ijichi
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome