Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue among young Indian adults

Oral cancer is one of the commonest cancers among males in India. This stud y was carried out to evaluate the demographics, risk profile, clinicopathol ogic features, and treatment outcome in young patients with squamous cell c arcinoma (SCC) of the tongue. Patients under the age of 35 years with SCC o f the tongue presenting between 1982 and 1996 were identified using Institu tions centralized electronic database. Demographic, clinical, and pathologi c characteristics were abstracted from the case records. Survival was calcu lated by Kaplan-Meier method. One hundred and fifteen patients with histolo gically confirmed SCC of the tongue were analyzed. The mean age at presenta tion was 30.5 years with a 1.7:1 male to female ratio. Prior exposure to to bacco and alcohol was noted In 58 (50.5%) patients. At presentation, 70 (60 .9%) were In stages III and IV, and 59 (51.3%) patients had regional lymph node involvement. The overall disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 and 5 years were 63% and 54.9%, respectively. A statistically significant difference In DFS was seen between patients with N-0 and N-1 disease compared to N-2 or N-3 disease. Various other factors like age, sex, habits, and stage of the disease were found to have no significant effect on DFS. Results of the pre sent study suggest that contrary to the belief, the survival among young pa tients Is almost similar to that in older patients.