Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue among young Indian adults

Oral cancer is one of the commonest cancers among males in India. This study was carried out to evaluate the demographics, risk profile, clinicopathologic features, and treatment outcome in young patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue. Patients under the age of 35 years with SCC of the tongue presenting between 1982 and 1996 were identified using institutions centralized electronic database. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic characteristics were abstracted from the case records. Survival was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. One hundred and fifteen patients with histologically confirmed SCC of the tongue were analyzed. The mean age at presentation was 30.5 years with a 1.7:1 male to female ratio. Prior exposure to tobacco and alcohol was noted in 58 (50.5%) patients. At presentation, 70 (60.9%) were in stages III and IV, and 59 (51.3%) patients had regional lymph node involvement. The overall disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 and 5 years were 63% and 54.9%, respectively. A statistically significant difference in DFS was seen between patients with N(0) and N(1) disease compared to N(2) or N(3) disease. Various other factors like age, sex, habits, and stage of the disease were found to have no significant effect on DFS. Results of the present study suggest that contrary to the belief, the survival among young patients is almost similar to that in older patients.