Analysis of Bilateral Neck Metastasis of Tongue Cancer

Abstract

To estimate the prognosis of bilateral cervical metastases from tongue carcinoma, we studied twelve patients (24–72 years old) who underwent neck dissections at our hospital to judge whether we should have performed radical treatment or not for those patients of tongue carcinoma who had bilateral metastatic nodes.The five-year survival rate of bilateral neck metastasis patients was 58% (the Kaplan-Meier method). On the other hand, the five-year survival rate of patients with only unilateral neck metastases of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue was 56%. Thus, there was no statistical significant difference in survival rate.We conclude that even if a patient has metastatic lymph nodes on both sides of the neck, radical therapy should be done.