Tongue cancer: Do patients younger than 40 do worse?

Abstract

Background: Debate continues as to whether being young confers a worse prognosis for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Recent papers have provided conflicting views in this debate. In this study we aimed to investigate if young age at the time of diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue confers a worse prognosis. Methods: Eligible patients were identified through the computer database of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney. All eligible patients were treated with radical intent. Using age 40 as a cut off multivariate and survival analysis was undertaken to compare age groups. Results: Median age at diagnosis was 60 years (range, 19-86 years) in 84 males (65 per cent) and 45 females (35 per cent). Median follow-up time was 43 months (range, 2.3-203 months). Fifteen patients (12 per cent) were aged <40 years. On univariate analysis stage and age were significant determinants of disease-specific survival. There was no difference in overall survival between the young (<40 years) and middle-aged groups (40-60 years). However, the young and the middle aged were both more likely to survive than the older age group (>60 years). On multivariate analysis age remained a significant factor for determining disease-specific survival, with the older age group 2.9 times more likely to die than the younger groups. Conclusion: Young age (<40 years) did not portend to worse survival in comparison to older tongue cancer patients.

Ten-year analysis of oral cancer focusing on young people in northern Thailand

“…The most common site of OSCC in both age groups in our study was the tongue, which is in agreement with the findings of many previous studies (14,15,23,29,30). This result is also in line with the analysis from multinational cancer registries in both developed and developing countries in all regions of the world except for south-central Asia, where the most common sites were found to be the gingiva and buccal mucosa (1).…”

“…This finding is in agreement with those from studies by Udeabor et al (14), Warnakulasuriya et al (6), and Fan et al (26), which reported better prognoses for younger patients. Some studies reported that comorbidities in older patients affected the 5-year survival rate (14,29). Moreover, the young group was more tolerant to treatment than the old group (14,26,29).…”

“…Accordingly, some studies have reported that the tumor site is related to specific risk factors (5,6,15,18,(30)(31)(32). Tumors of the tongue and the floor of the mouth may be associated with excessive alcohol consumption and cigarette-smoking habits (1,6,29,32), whereas lesions on the buccal mucosa and gingiva may be related to tobacco/betel quid chewing habits (1,6,18,30). Taken together, these factors could explain the low percentages of tumors on the gingiva and buccal mucosa in the young group in our study.…”

lisis de la recurrencia de cáncer de lengua considerando la presencia de eventos competitivos.

“…En nuestro trabajo consideramos la edad de 45 años como punto de corte para la categorizar la edad en dos grupos, por que considerar una edad menor disminuiría el porcentaje de pacientes correspondiente al grupo con edades menores. Nuestros resultados muestran que la incidencia estimada de la recurrencia aunque es mayor en el grupo de pacientes con edades menores o iguales que 45 años, la diferencia con el grupo de mayores que 45 años no es significativa, resultado similar al reportado en los trabajos de N Siegelmann-Danieli y DM Hyam (3,4), quienes estudian si el hecho de ser joven incorpora un peor pronóstico a los pacientes con cáncer de lengua.…”

“…Reportan 38% de recurrencia, siendo la recurrencia local mayor comparada con la recurrencia regional (3,4).…”