Abstract
Oral cancer is one of the commonest cancers among males in India. This study was carried out to evaluate the demographics, risk profile, clinicopathologic features, and treatment outcome in young patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue. Patients under the age of 35 years with SCC of the tongue presenting between 1982 and 1996 were identified using institutions centralized electronic database. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic characteristics were abstracted from the case records. Survival was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method. One hundred and fifteen patients with histologically confirmed SCC of the tongue were analyzed. The mean age at presentation was 30.5 years with a 1.7:1 male to female ratio. Prior exposure to tobacco and alcohol was noted in 58 (50.5%) patients. At presentation, 70 (60.9%) were in stages III and IV, and 59 (51.3%) patients had regional lymph node involvement. The overall disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 and 5 years were 63% and 54.9%, respectively. A statistically significant difference in DFS was seen between patients with N0 and N1 disease compared to N2 or N3 disease. Various other factors like age, sex, habits, and stage of the disease were found to have no significant effect on DFS. Results of the present study suggest that contrary to the belief, the survival among young patients is almost similar to that in older patients.
Keywords: oral cancer, epidemiology, tongue, survival, treatment, age
Introduction
The tongue is the most common site for an oral cavity malignancy. Tongue cancer represented 6.3% of all male cancers and 3.7% of all female cancer cases in the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Trivandrum, South India [1]. This constituted about 36.5% of all oral malignancies. Peak incidence is seen in the sixth decade for men and in the seventh decade for women. In India, the high prevalence of this cancer is attributed to the widespread habit of tobacco chewing, smoking, and alcoholism.
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral tongue is rare in young adults. Our understanding of its etiology, natural history, and optimal therapeutic management is limited due to the rarity of this tumor in young patients. Even though tobacco and alcohol abuse is said to be the main etiological factor, it is reported only for a small percentage of patients in some series [2]. The lack of significant habits in young patients have prompted many to postulate other factors like immune deficiency [3,4], genetic factors [5], and dietary factors [6] in the etiology of these cancer. Viruses like herpes simplex virus and human papilloma virus [7] have also been reported as contributing factors. In the few reported series on tongue cancer in young patients, the general trend noted was the aggressive course and poor prognosis [8]. We carried out this study to define the demographics, risk profile, clinicopathologic features, and treatment outcome among young adults with carcinoma of the oral tongue.
Patients and Methods
A retrospective analysis of the patients under the age of 35 years with SCC of the tongue presented at RCC, Trivandrum between 1982 and 1996 was carried out. Data extraction was carried from the electronic database of RCC by the ICD codes for site and age <35. Variables analyzed for each patient included age, sex, history of tobacco and alcohol abuse, history of any cancer in first-degree family members, and the presence of premalignant lesions. The patients were staged according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system [9]. Primary treatment given at our institution or elsewhere and type of surgery and radiotherapy were extracted from case records. Local, regional, and distant failures and second primaries were taken as endpoints. All variables were entered in a database for analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the overall and disease-free survival (DFS) and log rank test was used for comparing survival curves.
Results
A total of 115 patients under the age of 35 years with SCC of the tongue in the 15-year period from 1982 to 1996 were analyzed. The mean age at presentation was 30.5 years (range 18 to 35, SD 4.1). There were 74 (64.3%) men and 41 (35.7%) women with a male to female ratio of 1.7:1 (Table 1).
Table 1.
Age Distribution of the Young Patients with SCC of the Tongue (n=115).
| Age | Number (%) |
| <20 | 2 (1.8) |
| 21–25 | 14 (12.1) |
| 26–30 | 36 (31.4) |
| 31–35 | 63 (54.7) |
Family history of cancer was present in 14 (12.2%) patients, whereas family history of oral cancer was present only in 3 (2.6%) patients. Precancerous lesions in the form of leukoplakia, submucous fibrosis, lichen planus, and erythroplakia were present in 13 (11.3%) patients. About half of the patients, 58 (50.5%), were habituated to either tobacco or alcohol. Among them, tobacco smoking outnumbered other risk factors, 49 (42.6%). Considering the habit distribution by age, more habitués were found in the 31- to 35-year age group, i.e., 44 (75.9%) compared to 14 (24.1%) patients <30 years of age.
About 55 (47.8%) of the tumors were well differentiated, 41 (35.7%) were moderately differentiated, and 1 (0.9%) was poorly differentiated. Differentiation was not known in 18 (15.6%) cases. At the time of presentation, majority of the patients had T2 lesions (46; 40%) followed by T1 in 24 (20.9%), T3 in 23 (20%), and T4 in 22 (19%). Regional lymph node involvement was present in 59 (51.3%) patients. Considering the composite stage of the disease, 45 (39%) patients were in early stages I and II, whereas 70 (60.9%) were in advanced stages III and IV (Table 2). Taking stage of the disease by age, advanced stage lesions (stages III and IV) were significantly more, i.e., 39/70 (55.7%) in patients below 30 years compared to 31 (44.3%) in those above 30 years of age. There were significantly more node positive cases in patients below 30 years 33/59 (55.9%) compared to 26 (44%) in patients of the 31 to 35 years age group. Among the node positive cases, 35 (59.3%) patients were in N1 stage, 13 (22%) were in N2, and 11 (18.6%) were in N3 stage. Considering the nodal stage by age, N3 stage patients were significantly higher in <30 years age group, 8/11 (72.7%), compared to 3 (27.3%) in 31 to 35 years age group (Table 2).
Table 2.
Stages at Presentation by Age among Patients with SCC of the Tongue (n=115).
| Stage | <30 (n=52) | Age 31–35 yr (n=63) | χ2 (P value) |
| T stage | |||
| 1 | 8 (6.9) | 16 (13.9) | |
| 2 | 19 (16.5) | 27 (23.5) | |
| 3 | 13 (11.3) | 10 (8.7) | |
| 4 | 12 (10.4) | 10 (8.7) | 3.4 (0.3) |
| N stage | |||
| 0 | 20 (17.4) | 36 (31.3) | |
| 1 | 19 (16.5) | 16 (13.9) | |
| 2 | 6 (5.2) | 7 (6.1) | |
| 3 | 8 (6.9) | 3 (2.6) | 7 (0.07) |
| Composite stage | |||
| I | 4 (3.5) | 14 (12.2) | |
| II | 9 (7.8) | 18 (17.2) | |
| III | 20 (17.4) | 19 (16.5) | |
| IV | 19 (16.5) | 12 (10.4) | 9.1 (0.05) |
Figures in parenthesis denote percentage unless specified.
Majority of the patients with early disease, 33/45 (73.3%), were treated by radiotherapy as the primary modality, either alone (19/33) or followed by either surgery (4/33) or chemotherapy (10/33). Surgery as the primary modality was employed in 25/70 (35.7%) patients in stages III and IV either alone (6/25) or followed by RT (19/25). Chemoradiation was given to 15 (21.4%) patients, and palliative treatment alone was given to 4 (5.7%) patients of advanced-stage disease. Thirteen (11.3%) patients did not receive any treatment because of either very advanced disease or the refusal for treatment by the patients (Table 3). The follow-up period ranged from 1 to 202 months with a median follow-up time of 19 months.
Table 3.
Treatment Methods Adopted in Different Stages of Disease.
| Sequence of Treatment | Stage of the Disease | Total, n=115 (100%) | |||
| I, n=18 (15.2%) | II, n=27 (23.5%) | III, n=39 (34.8%) | IV, n=31 (27.7%) | ||
| Radiotherapy alone | 9 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 33 (29.5) |
| Surgery alone | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 (6.95) |
| R+S | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 9 (8) |
| S+R | 2 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 23 (20.5) |
| R+C | 2 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 25 (21.7) |
| Palliative treatment | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 (3.6) |
| No treatment | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 13 (11.3) |
R, radiotherapy; S, surgery; C, chemotherapy.
During follow-up, 32 (27.8%) patients developed recurrence. Among these 13/32 (40.6%) had recurrence at the primary site, 5 (15.6%) had nodal recurrence, 11 (34.4%) developed loco-regional recurrence, 1 (3.1%) had second primary, whereas 2 (6.3%) developed distant metastasis. For the recurrent lesions, surgery was employed for salvage in 14 patients, radiation in 4 patients, a combination of surgery and radiotherapy was given to another 4 patients, and palliative treatment alone was given to 10 patients. At the last follow-up, 13 (10.4%) patients were dead, 47 (40.9%) were alive without any evidence of disease and 42 (36.5) were alive with disease (Table 4).
Table 4.
Status at Last Follow-Up.
| Status | Number (%), n=115 |
| Dead | 13 (11.3) |
| Alive with disease | 42 (36.5) |
| Alive NED | 47 (40.9) |
| Loss of follow-up | 13 (11.3) |
NED, no evidence of disease.
The overall survival (OS) in this study group at 3 and 5 years was 91% and 87%, respectively. The overall DFS at 3 and 5 years was 63% and 54.9%, respectively (Figure 1). The DFS in patients <30 years was 65% and 57.8% at 3 and 5 years compared to 61.8% and 53.6% in patients >30 years. This difference was not statistically significant (Figure 2). Males were found to have an apparently better DFS compared to females (61% and 52.2%, respectively, at 5 years) ; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Patients with early stage diseases (stages I and II) were found to have better DFS compared to advanced stage lesions (stages III and IV). The 3-year DFS was 79.9%, 77.7%, 60.5%,. and 37% for stages I, II, III, and IV, respectively; this difference was also not statistically significant. DFS in patients with N0 neck or with early nodal disease N1 at 3 years were 72% and 58.7%, respectively. Patients with advanced nodal disease (N2 and N3) had a statistically significant difference in DFS at 3 years (28.5%) compared to the former group (P=.05) (Table 5; Figure 3).
Figure 1.
Disease-free survival among the young Indian adults with tongue cancer.
Figure 2.
Disease-free survival among patients with tongue cancer below the age of 30 years and those between 30 and 35 years of age.
Table 5.
Disease-Free Survival (DFS) by Various Factors.
| Variable | 3-Year DFS (%) | 5-Year DFS (%) | P value |
| Overall DFS | 63 | 54.9 | |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 65 | 61 | |
| Female | 67 | 52.2 | 0.9 |
| Age | |||
| <30 yr | 65 | 57.8 | |
| 31–35 yr | 61 | 53.6 | 0.8 |
| Habits | |||
| Present | 59 | 51 | |
| Absent | 70 | 62.5 | 0.5 |
| Nodes | |||
| N0 | 72 | 59.8 | |
| N1 | 58.7 | 58.7 | |
| N2, N3 | 28.5 | 28.5 | 0.05 |
| Stage | |||
| I | 79.9 | 31.9 | |
| II | 77.7 | 77.7 | |
| III | 60.5 | 60.5 | |
| IV | 37 | 37 | 0.3 |
Figure 3.
Disease-free survival among young patients with tongue cancer by nodal status.
Discussion
This work presents one of the largest series of young patients with SCC of the tongue. These constituted about 0.9% of all cases of oral cancer seen at RCC, Trivandrum, India, during the same period. Only 12% patients had a family history of cancer. Majority of the patients were males and there was a steep increase in the frequency of cases as the age advanced, supporting the etiological effect of habit. In about 58 (50.5%) patients, disease could be attributed to tobacco and/or alcohol exposure. Among them a substantial number (49; 42.6%) were addicted to smoking. Out of 52, 38 (73%) patients under the age of 30 years had no habits compared to 19/63 (30%) patients of the 31- to 35-year age group. In an earlier review of 197 consecutive patients treated for oral tongue cancer in Kerala, 82% of patients under the age of 30 years did not had habits as compared with 10% of patients older than 30 years of age [2]. Another report comparing tongue cancer in young and older patients in India concluded that in younger patients, SCC of the tongue was associated with fewer etiological factors, and in older patients, it was always seen in association with smoking, alcohol or chewing [10]. However, this being a retrospective study, it is difficult to comment on the exact relationship and level of exposures among our patients.
Cancer of the tongue constituted about 43.6% of all cases of oral cancer below the age of 35 years seen during the same period. This is in contrast to the published reports where tongue cancers constituted 75% to 80% of all intraoral subsites in young patients [11]. In a review of all oral cancer cases presented at our institution, tongue cancer constituted 23.97% of all oral malignancies, cancer of buccal mucosa was 49.9%, which outnumbered the former [12].
We have included patients only up to 35 years in the present study, while Sarkaria and Harari [8] included patients who were 39 years or younger. Comparative stage distributions at presentation between these two series were: stage I, 16% and 37%; stage II, 25% and 27%; stage III, 34% and 20%; and stage IV, 27% and 16% in present and published series, respectively [8]. In a review of 124 patients they reported a loco-regional failure in 57% and cancer-specific mortality in 47% of patients [8]. Son and Kapp [11] identified 27 patients below the age of 40 years with SCC of the oral cavity and oropharynx and reported failure rate to be 91%, which was higher than other reported series. However, Pitman et al. [13], in their report of 28 patients with cancer of the tongue below the age of 40 years reported similar outcomes of treatment for SCC of the oral tongue in young patients and those older than 40 with similar extent of disease. Survival among young patients has not been reported from our center; however, irrespective of age, the 3-year survival with radium implant in tongue cancer was 71%, 55%, and 50%, respectively, in T1, T2, and T3 disease [14]. Similarly, after radical radiotherapy the 3-year DFS was 36%; it was 71% in stage I, 51% in stage II, 21% in stage III, and 19% in stage IV disease [15]. The overall DFS at 3 years as well as stagewise DFS was significantly higher in the present study, probably due to the use of multimodality treatment in nearly 50% patients. The results for multimodality treatment from our center have not been reported.
Similar to the present study, the 5-year DFS reported by Sarkaria and Harari [8] was 53%, while Friedlander et al. [16] reported slightly higher rate (62%). We found no statistically significant differences in survival between males and females, between patients <30 years and the 31- to 35-year age group, between habitués and nonhabitués, and early or advanced disease. The only statistically significant difference in DFS was noted between patients with N0 or early nodal disease (N1) compared to those with advanced nodal disease (N2, N3) (P=.05).
Our data suggest that the survival among young patients is almost similar to the older counterparts. As the results are good in early stages of the disease, the best way to improve the results seems to be clinical downstaging by community-oriented early-detection programs and by increased public awareness of oral cancer.
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