Survival among treated tongue cancer patients: a single-center experience

To describe overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in a cohort of tongue cancer patients, together with the corresponding demographic, tumor and surgical characteristics.

A retrospective study was made of 205 consecutive patients with primary tongue cancer subjected to surgery and adjuvant therapy according to the stage of the disease, in Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca (HUVA) (Murcia, Spain) during the period 2000–2020. Survival was evaluated based on the Kaplan–Meier method, and the existence of significant differences between the different study variables was analyzed using the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis was performed for the identification of risk factors.

In relation to overall survival, 72.6% of the patients survived for a mean time of 14.43 years [standard error (SE) = 0.74; 95% CI: 12.98–15.87], with a cumulative survival rate of 49.8 ± 3%. Survival was reduced by the presence of tumor adjacent to resection margins [hazard ratio (HR) 2.20; 95% CI 1.09–4.43] (p = 0.028) and infiltrated resection margins (HR 3.86, 95% CI 1.56–9.57) (p = 0.004). Lymphadenectomy in turn increased survival (HR 0.15; 95% CI 0.06–0.42) (p < 0.001). In relation to disease-free survival, 55.3% of the patients suffered no relapse over a mean period of 9.91 years (SE = 0.66; 95% CI: 8.61–11.2), with a cumulative survival rate of 26.6% ± 8.4%.

In tongue cancer patients, overall and specific survival were reduced in the presence of infiltrated resection margins. Lymphadenectomy in turn improved survival compared with patients in which this procedure was not carried out.