Clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue in different age groups.

BACKGROUND: The clinicopathological features and outcomes of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue in patients of different age groups remain debatable.

METHODS: Medical records of 457 patients with tongue SCC were reviewed, grouped by age, followed up, and compared.

RESULTS: Sex and TNM stage showed no intergroup differences. Tongue SCC in patients ≤30 years had the most advanced TNM classification and greatest proportion of poorly differentiation tumors. Both disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) showed no statistically significant difference between the youngest and the oldest groups (P = .605 and P = .520). However, there was a tendency of higher death rate caused by recurrence or metastasis in the youngest group compared with the others (91.7% vs 75.4% and 77.4%).

CONCLUSION: Young patients had a tendency of higher death rate caused by recurrence or metastasis than middle-age and older patients; therefore, a larger case sample is needed for further confirmation.