Carcinoma of the oral cavity: on the prognostic significance of the primary tumour site (by levels and areas).

The prognostic significance of primary tumour site in carcinomas of the oral cavity was investigated in a series of 585 cases. For the subsamples (levels and areas of oral cavity) studied, the numerical distribution of TNM categories, life tables and life table comparisons were computed. This produced the following results: Given an identical extension and analogous metastazising rate, there is no computationally demonstrable difference in prognosis between primary tumours sited at different levels and areas of the oral cavity. The exception are the T1Nx categories, for which a difference exists between precanine and retromolar sites. These results should be re-examined on the basis of a larger series.