A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF CORRELATION BETWEEN DEPTH OF MALIGNANT TONGUE ULCER AND CERVICAL METASTASIS

ABSTRACT

BackgroundIn India, the oral tongue cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer among all cancers andsecond most common in cancers of oral cavity in males. Though there are advances in thediagnosis and treatment of the oral malignancies including the tongue, the failure rates in cancerof the oral tongue are high as the tongue malignancy has higher chances of spreading to necklymph nodes compared with other oral cancers.MethodA retrospective review of the case records of 55 patients who underwent surgery for thetreatment of carcinoma of the tongue was carried off in the department of General Surgery andOnco-surgery at the GCS Hospital, Ahmedabad to ensure the pattern of cervical lymph nodemetastasis and to assess the sensitivity of depth of malignant tongue ulcer in predicting its nodalspread.ResultsAmong 55 patients, diagnosed with carcinoma tongue and operated for hemi glossectomy alongwith MRND, Lymph node metastasis was present in 22 (40%). Out of these 22 patients, themean depth of invasion was 11 mm. In patients without lymph node metastasis, the mean depthof invasion was 8.3 mm.Chances of cervical lymph node metastasis increases with increment in the depth of malignanttongue ulcer.ConclusionThe infiltration depth of the malignant tongue ulcer can be used as an autonomous predictor forthe presence of nodal metastasis.