Prognostic value of regional metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and floor of mouth

The presence of metastatic nodes is a survival-limiting factor for patients with mouth tumors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the causes of treatment failure in carcinomas of the tongue and floor of the mouth due to staging. METHOD: This study included 365 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth treated from 1978 to 2007; 48 were staged as T1, 156 as T2, 98 as T3, and 63 as T4, of which 193 were pNo and 172 pN+. RESULTS: Among the pN+ cases, 17/46 (36.9%) of the patients not treated with radiation therapy had relapsing tumors, against 46/126 (36.5 %) of the patients who underwent radiation therapy. Success rates in the group of subjects submitted to salvage procedures were 16/51 (31.3%) for pN0 patients and 3/77 (3.9%) for pN+ patients. CONCLUSION: Salvage procedure success and survival rates are lower for pN+ patients; pN+ individuals also have more relapsing local disease.