[Investigation of the tongue squamous cell carcinoma prognostic factors]

The aim of this study was to investigate the factors which influence the prognosis of the tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC).

The Cox's proportional hazard model was used to analyze 121 cases of TSCC treated by the affiliated dental hospital of West China University of Medical Sciences in the period from 1990 to 1994. Thirteen parameters (age, sex, occupation, primary tumor site, clinical stage, tumor differentiation, clinical therapy, cervical lymph node metastasis, surgical margin status of the primary tumor, amount of blood transfusion, smoking, drinking, reconstruction during operation) were evaluated.

The monofactor analysis showed that factors influencing the postoperative survival of TSCC included primary tumor site, the surgical margin status of the primary tumor and the cervical lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05). Multifactor analysis demonstrated that two of these thirteen relevant factors influenced the postoperative survival of TSCC independently. They are successively the surgical margin status of the primary tumor and the cervical lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05).

This study suggests that it is critical for surgeons to resect the primary tumor and the metastatic cervical lymph nodes thoroughly to improve the survival rate of TSCC patients.