Treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the floor of the mouth.

Treatment of 88 selected patients with Stages I and II squamous cell carcinoma of the floor of the mouth by monobloc resection has produced a high five year cure rate. The death of one patient in the series postoperatively was considered a surgical one. Disability after such a procedure is minimal, and dental complications are not a factor. Elective irradiation of the neck is recommended in those instances of positive sublingual or submandibular nodes found in the monobloc specimen and in all patients with Stages III and IV lesions. Radiation therapy is recommended for highly anaplastic neoplasms, for instances when speech impairment is important, for lesions in the posterior limits of the floor of the mouth, for edentulous patients without bone invasion, for the treatment of recurrent lesions after operation and for synchronous multiple primary carcinomas of the head and neck if one of which is a carcinoma of the floor of the mouth.