gms | German Medical Science

82nd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

01.06. - 05.06.2011, Freiburg

Our experience in the treatment of tongue base carcinoma

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author Nicolae Constantin Balica - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • Stelian Lupescu - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • Razvan Cristescu - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • Florin Trales - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • Andreea Ruja - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania
  • Stan Cotulbea - ENT Department Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 82. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. Freiburg i. Br., 01.-05.06.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11hnod160

doi: 10.3205/11hnod160, urn:nbn:de:0183-11hnod1609

Published: April 19, 2011

© 2011 Balica et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Introduction: Primary carcinomas of the base of tongue are relatively rare. Treatment is accompanied by a number of major problems. For T1 tongue base tumors radiotherapy provides maximum therapeutic benefit and minimal functional deficit, in more advanced lesions (T2, T3 and T4) the combined approach (surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy) is preferred.

Method: The study was made in the ENT Department Timisoara, over a period of nine years. It presents the therapy of 37 patients treated for neoplasm with tongue-base localization. The initial symptoms were: mass in the throat, odinofagia, referred ear pain. Clinically positive cervical node at the initial visit was found in 86.5% of cases (32 patients). The diagnosis was based on the clinical examination followed by video-endoscopy, CT, MRI, cervical ultrasound and histopathologic exam. Treatment for all patients was initial surgery followed by postoperative radiation.

Results: The post-operative evaluation factors were: the healthiness of the resection borders, postoperative complications (fistulae, wound infections) and the level of post-operative disfagia. Long term evaluation after surgical treatment: at 26 out of 37 patients (70.27%) the post-operative evolution was positive without signs of loco-regional or neck lymph nodes. Death rate was 24.32% (9 patients). The nasopharyngeal nutrition catheter was suppressed after three weeks for all the patients. None of the cases required postoperative gastrostomy.

Conclusions: Tongue base tumors removal using the transhyoidian approach is a useful procedure that permits postoperative deglutition and comparable rate of the tumor control for a long time, with lower postoperative morbidity.