Current trends of carcinoma tongue at a Medical College in Central India: A retrospective study

Context : Oral cancer is the most common cancer in India and tongue is one of the most commonly affected site. Aims and Objectives : The current study assesses the clinico-epidemiological trends of carcinoma tongue, its survival rates in different stages and relationship between different variables in central India. Materials and Methods : This was a retrospective study of 121 carcinoma tongue patients admitted between the period of 2½ years in a hospital of central India. The data collected were age and sex distribution, location and site of the tumor, tumor stage, histopathological type and grade, nodal status, modality of treatment, recurrences and survival. The disease free survival (DFS) was analyzed against stage, nodal status and recurrences using log rank test. Results : In this study, the incidence of cancer was more in males (male: female = 6.1:1) particularly in their fifth decade (mean 52.7 years) and the most common location was anterior 2/3 ^rd of the tongue mainly on right lateral side. Most of the patients presenting to out-patient department were having neck nodes positive status. The clinical stage at presentation was mainly advanced stages with well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The most common treatment offered was surgery with radiotherapy (RT), followed by chemotherapy plus RT. The mean DFS time was of 27.8 ± 1.68 months, and it was directly related to tumor stage (P < 0.0001) in comparison to nodes positivity and recurrences. Conclusion : The study signifies better prognosis of carcinoma tongue in early stages and warrants more awareness campaigns and health education in the health facilities as well as in community for early diagnosis of the disease with proper staging and subsequently multimodal treatment for increasing survival rates.