Interstitial brachytherapy and neck dissection for Stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the mobile tongue

Figures & data

Table I.  Distribution of the 117 cases according to TNM classification (2002). Distribution of patients and tumor characteristics (117cases)

Features	No of patients
Gender
Male	78
Female	39
Age
< 60	66
> = 60	51
Substage
T1N1	1
Superficial	0
Exophytic	0
Invasive	1
T2N1	28
Superficial	4
Exophytic	1
Invasive	23
T3N0	68
Superficial	13
Exophytic	13
Invasive	42
T3N1	20
Superficial	1
Exophytic	4
Invasive	15
Tumor Thickness
< 2cm	61
> = 2cm	56
Macroscopic appearance
Superficial	18
Exophytic	18
Invasive	81
Brachytherapy source
Au-198/Rn-222	21
Cs-137/Ra-226	63
Ir-192	33
External irradiation
With	87
Without	30

Figure 1.  The cause-specific survival rate in 177 stage III mobile tongue cancer patients.

Figure 2.  The cause-specific survival rates according to the T and N classifications. Subgroups of stage III show a statistical significance with close relationship to the presence of neck node metastasis.

Figure 3.  The cause-specific survival rates according to the macroscopic type. Invasive and exophytic types show poor prognosis compared to superficial type with statistical significance.

Table II.  Prognostic factors in 117 patients for cause-specific survival

	Cause-specific survival		Local control
Features	Univariate	Multivariate	Univariate	Multivariate
Gender	NS	NS	NS	NS
Age	NS	NS	NS	NS
T classification and N classification	p < 0.001	p = 0.004	NS	NS
T3N0 vs. T1-3N1
Macroscopic appearance	p = 0.004	p = 0.029	NS	NS
Primary tumor thickness	NS	NS	NS	NS
Radioactive sources	NS	NS	NS	NS
With/Without External irradiation	NS	NS	NS	p = 0.010

NS. – Not statistically significant.

Figure 4.  The local control rates in 177 stage III mobile tongue cancer patients.

Table III.  Primary tumor and neck node metastasis controls according to macroscopic types

	Superficial	Exophytic	Invasive	Total
Primary tumor recurrence	3/18 (17)	8/18 (44)	35/81 (43)	46/117 (39)
Total control	1/3 (33)	3/8 (38)	10/35 (29)	14/46 (30)
Control by surgery	1/2 (50)	3/4 (75)	9/20 (45)	13/26 (50)
Control by radiation	0/1 (0)	0/3 (0)	1/7 (14)	1/11 (9)
Control by observation	0/0 (−)	0/1 (0)	0/8 (0)	0/9 (0)
Neck node metastasis	7/18 (39)	10/18 (56)	60/81 (74)	77/117 (66)
Total control	6/7 (86)	3/10 (30)	21/60 (35)	30/77 (39)
Control by surgery	6/7 (89)	2/5 (40)	17/42 (40)	25/54 (46)
Control by radiation	0/0 (−)	1/5 (20)	4/16 (25)	5/21 (24)
Control by observation	0/0 (−)	0/0 (−)	0/2 (0)	0/2 (0)

Note. – Data in parentheses are percentages.