Epidemiology of tongue squamous cell carcinoma: A retrospective cohort study

To analyze the epidemiological profile and the specific survival of patients diagnosed with tongue squamous cell carcinoma at the National Cancer Institute (INCA).

Hospital Cancer Registry System Data and Mortality Information from 2007 to 2009 were retrieved in a retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Specific survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The association between independent variables and the risk of death was explored in a Cox proportional hazards regression model.

A total of 346 patients were eligible, mostly male (77.5%), smokers (87.6%), with alcohol consumption (80.9%), with low education (65.6%), advanced staging at the time of diagnosis (71.1%), and presenting a high mortality rate (72.5%). In total, 44.5% of patients underwent a surgical approach alone or associated with another treatment modality, of which 85.1% of patients underwent neck dissection and 90.1% had free surgical margins. Specific survival was 40.6% in two years and 31.2% in five years.

The 5-year specific survival was considered worse in individuals over 60 years, and who did not undergo surgical treatment or had surgery associated with another treatment, compared to patients undergoing isolated surgery.