"Localized" carcinoma of the mobile tongue and floor of the mouth--a lesion frequently misjudged and undertreated.

A retrospective study of 74 cases of cancer of the mobile tongue and floor of the mouth, diagnosed between 1949 and 1975, with a two-year minimum follow-up was undertaken. The lesions were TNM staged, stages I and II accounting for 56 cases (76%) and stages III and IV accounting for 18 cases (24%). The analysis was restricted to the "localized" stage I and stage II lesions. In this group failure occurred in 31 patients, or 55% of the group. Failure at the primary site accounted for 10 of the failures, failure at both primary and cervical lymph nodes accounted for 14, and failure at cervical lymph nodes only accounted for 7 of the failures. The treatment for these "localized" lesions was then analyzed for modality, adequacy, presence or absence of planning failure, and survival. The results indicate the lethal nature of this lesion when inadequately treated and strongly suggest more extensive use of prophylactic therapy to the cervical lymph nodes.