Clinical and prognostic analysis of second primary squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract We have investigated the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue after definitive radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and evaluated the effect of common therapeutic regimens for these patients. We retrospectively reviewed follow-up data for patients whose nasopharyngeal carcinoma had been treated by radiotherapy, and selected the 68 who had then developed SCC of the tongue, in the border of the tongue in half, and in the dorsum in 25 (37%). Eight of the 68 patients had clinical lymph node metastasis (12%), and 45 presented with stage I-II disease at the time of the diagnosis of the SCC (66%). Resection or radiotherapy alone was an effective treatment for patients with stage I-II SCC of the tongue, but patients with stage III-IV disease had a poor prognosis, despite being given multidisciplinary treatment. Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors that independently influenced the survival of these patients were use of alcohol, recurrence of their nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the latency period, and the clinical TNM stage. Tongue SCC after radiotherapy was generally at an early stage and commonly occurred on the border or the dorsum of the tongue, with few lymph node metastases. Resection or radiotherapy is an effective treatment, and the risk factors that independently influenced the survival of patients indicate that improving the technique of radiotherapy and close follow-up after nasopharyngeal cancer are vitally important.