Figure 3.

Therapeutic options and patient distribution: 31 patients with T1N0 or T2N0 tongue cancer were enrolled in this study. The day after the CT lymphography, sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy using CT lymphographic guidance combined with the blue dye method and glossectomy were performed in the 28 patients having identified SLNs with CT lymphography. When the SLN was negative for metastasis in T1N0 cases, only glossectomy without neck dissection (ND) was performed. For T2N0 cases, primary tumor resection with elective neck dissection (level I–III) was performed regardless of the presence of metastasis in the SLN.