Outcomes of oral tongue cancer: does age matter?

INTRODUCTION: This is a retrospective study aimed to analyse the outcomes of oral tongue cancer with emphasis on young people. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients treated radically between 1998 and 2006 were included and categorised according to treatment modalities (Group A: Surgery, Group B: Surgery and adjuvant therapy, Group C: Definitive radiotherapy) and age groups (≤ 40 and > 40 years). Overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), locoregional relapse-free survival (LRS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: There were 123 patients with 32%, 53% and 15% in Group A, B and C, respectively. Of these, 17 patients (14%) were ≤40 years with 6 (15%), 8 (12%) and 3 (16%) young oral tongues in Group A, B and C, respectively. Five-year OS and DFS were 69%/72%, 41%/47% and 16%/9.5% for Group A, B and C, respectively. Young patients had similar survival as the older population with 5-year OS of 83%, 75% and 33% in Group A, B and C, as compared to the older patients (66%, 36% and 13%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Young oral tongue patients did not have worse outcomes.