title: Outcomes and prognostic factors for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue in young adults: a single-institution case-matched analysis.
abstract: There is controversy regarding prognosis and treatment of young patients with oral cavity cancer compared to their older counterparts. We conducted a retrospective case-matched analysis of all adult patients younger than 40 years and treated at our institution for a squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. Only non-metastatic adult patients (age >18) with oral tongue cancer were eventually included and matched 1:1 with patients over 40 years of age, at least 20 years older than the cases, with same T and N category and treatment period. Sixty-three patients younger than 40 had an oral cavity squamous cell cancer out of which 57 had an oral tongue primary during the period 1999-2012, and 50 could be matched with an older control. No difference could be seen between younger and older patients with regard to overall, cancer-specific, or progression-free survival. The patterns of failure were similar, although in young patients, almost all failures occurred during the first 2 years following treatment. Although overall survival shows a trend toward lower survival in older patients, cancer-specific survival and analysis of pattern failure suggest that disease prognosis is similar between young and older adults with oral tongue cancer. Further work is needed to identify the younger patients with poorer prognosis who overwhelmingly fail during the first year after treatment and could benefit from treatment intensification. Until then, young adults ought to be treated using standard guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France. pierre.blanchard@gustaveroussy.fr.|Univ Paris Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, 94270, France. pierre.blanchard@gustaveroussy.fr.|INSERM U1018, CESP, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France. pierre.blanchard@gustaveroussy.fr.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4785-3409
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blanchard
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Belkhir
authors.affiliation: Département de Cancérologie Cervicofaciale, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Temam
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Clément
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: El Khoury
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Felice
authors.affiliation: Département de Biopathologie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Odile
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Casiraghi
authors.affiliation: Département de médecine oncologique, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Patrikidou
authors.affiliation: Département de Cancérologie Cervicofaciale, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Haitham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mirghani
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Antonin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Département de Cancérologie Cervicofaciale, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Even
authors.affiliation: Département de Cancérologie Cervicofaciale, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gorphe
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Département de Cancérologie Cervicofaciale, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Janot
authors.affiliation: Département de Radiothérapie, Gustave Roussy, Université Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, 94805, France.
authors.forename: Yungan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Head and neck cancer; Oral cavity cancer; Surgery; Tongue cancer; Young adult