Elective neck irradiation in the treatment of cancer of the oral tongue

A total of 69 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue Stages T1-2-3 N0 were treated between 1952 and 1982 at one cancer center in Montevideo, Uruguay. Of 52 patients with the primary disease controlled, 2 had elective cervical lymph node dissection, and were therefore excluded from the study, 25 were treated with elective neck irradiation, and 25 were followed without irradiation to the neck. In the untreated group, 40% developed neck node metastases, while this was observed only in 20% of the group receiving elective neck irradiation, but only 4% recurred in the elective irradiated areas of the neck ( p: 0.0028). The survival was the same for each group (5-year absolute survival with NED 67% for the neck irradiation group and 64% for the unirradiated group). From this retrospective study, we conclude that elective neck irradiation in carcinoma of the oral tongue decreases the incidence of neck metastases but an improvement in survival of these patients was not demonstrated.