[Survival analysis of 229 patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral tongue have poor prognosis. This study was to analyze the most important factors affecting the prognosis of the patients with advanced (stage III and IV) SCC of the oral tongue.

METHODS

Complete clinical and follow-up data of 229 patients with pathologically confirmed advanced SCC of the oral tongue, initially treated at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center were retrospectively analyzed. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier analysis, comparison among groups was analyzed using log-rank test, and multivariate analysis was conducted using the Cox proportional hazard model. Independent risk factors were deducted. The risk function was established and evaluated.

RESULTS

The mean survival time of the 229 patients was 80.33 months, with the two-and five-year survival rates of 50.66% and 37.99%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that age, tongue base invasion, cervical lymphatic metastasis, stage, surgical treatment, recurrence and residual tumor were risk factors affecting prognosis (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that tumour invasion across the midline, cervical lymphatic metastases, surgical treatment, recurrence and residual tumor were independent factors for prognosis. Moreover, the risk function effectively predicted the prognosis.

CONCLUSIONS

The prognosis of patients with advanced SCC of the oral tongue is poor. Tumour invasion across the midline, cervical lymphatic metastasis, surgical treatment, recurrence, and residual tumor are independent factors affecting the prognosis.