title: Predictors of prognosis for squamous cell carcinoma of oral tongue.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Certain tumor-related factors like thickness increases the risk of nodal metastasis and may affect survival in patients with oral tongue cancers. The objective of this study is to identify those tumor-related prognostic predictors that can potentially influence decision for adjuvant radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of all patients with oral tongue cancers treated primarily by surgery at Tata Memorial Hospital between January 2007 and June 2010. The demographic and commonly reported histopathological features were analyzed for their influence on disease free and overall survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five hundred eighty-six patients were eligible for the study, of which 416 were males and 117 were females. Follow-up details were available for 498 (85%) patients with a median follow-up of 18 months and mean follow-up of 22 months. There were 302 patients who were alive and disease free at the last follow-up. This group had a mean follow-up of 27 months and median follow-up of 27.5 months. Disease recurrences during follow-up were observed in 184 (31%) patients. Sixty-one patients died subsequently. Perineural invasion significantly affected disease free survival (DFS). A tumor thickness of more than 11 mm significantly affected the overall survival (OS).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Other than nodal metastasis, tumor-related factors like thickness and perineural invasion are adverse prognostic factors and can influence survival. These patients, especially in case of early stage cancers, may potentially benefit from postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  2b.
authors.affiliation: Head and Neck Services, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Shivakumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thiagarajan
authors.forename: Sudhir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: Pankaj
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
authors.forename: Shubhadra V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Kane
authors.forename: Jai Prakash
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: D'Cruz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: tongue squamous cell carcinoma; tumor thickness, survival, nodal metastasis