Treatment results for 84 patients with base of tongue cancer.
CONCLUSIONS
For T2 tumors, surgery was indicated if functional preservation was possible. For T3/T4 tumors, the rate of primary disease control was not high and surgery frequently involved total laryngectomy. Points that surgeons must heed when performing such surgery were delineated.


OBJECTIVE
Because tumors originating from the base of the tongue are rare, few large-scale studies of such tumors have been performed. We reviewed treatments and outcomes at our department to establish effective future therapeutic plans.


METHODS
From 1971 to 2000, 84 patients with previously untreated and resectable squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue were treated at the Head and Neck Department of the Cancer Institute Hospital, Tokyo. Treatment selection and results were investigated.


RESULTS
The main treatment options were radiotherapy for primary lesions < or = T2 and surgery for primary lesions > or = T3. Overall disease-specific 5-year cumulative survival rate was 59.8%, but there was no significant difference in survival rate at each stage between the two treatments. Among patients who died of the primary disease, the area that was most difficult to control was the superior margin of the lateral wall of the oropharynx (n=7). The incidence of contralateral or retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis was low if tumors neither crossed the midline nor infiltrated the lateral wall. While total laryngectomy was performed on 48 patients, the larynx was operatively preserved in 5 T3 patients and one T4 patient.
Yoshimoto
Seiichi
S
Department of Head and Neck, Cancer Institute Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, 3-10-6 Ariake Koutou-ku, Tokyo, Japan. seyosimoto@jfcr.or.jp
Kawabata
Kazuyoshi
K
Mitani
Hiroki
H
Yonekawa
Hiroyuki
H
Beppu
Takeshi
T
Fukushima
Hirofumi
H
Sasaki
Tohru
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D007825:Laryngectomy; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D037981:Neck Dissection; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011300:Preoperative Care; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery