gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: There is an approximate ¼ incident rate between malign tumors of the tongue base and the malign tumors of the tongue’s mobile part.

Method: The study was made in the ENT Department Timisoara, over a period of four years. It presents the therapy of 15 patients treated for tongue-base malignant tumors. The initial symptoms were: mass in the throat, odinofagia, refereed otalgia. Clinically positive cervical lymph node at the initial visit were found in 13 cases (86,6%). The diagnosis was based on the clinical examination followed by video-endoscopy, CT, MRI, cervical echography and histopathologic exam. Treatment for all patients was initial surgery followed by postoperative radiation therapy, with or without chemotherapy.

Results: The post-operative evaluation factors were: tumor free of the resection borders, postoperative complications (fistulae, wound infections), the intensity of post-operative dysphagia. Long term evaluation after surgical treatment revealed in 13 of 15 patients no signs of local or lymph node recurrences. One patient died after one and a half-year after the operation. Death was due to by an abdominal tumor. Another patient died after eight month with local recurrence. The nasogastric nutrition catheter was suppressed after three weeks for all the patients. None of the cases required postoperative gastrostoma.

Conclusions: Resections of the tongue base neoplasm using the transhyoidian approach is a useful procedure that permits postoperative deglutition and tumor loco-regional control rate for a long period of time, with lower postoperative morbidity.