How much do you know about tongue cancer

How much common knowledge do you know about tongue cancer? Tongue cancer is quite harmful and is one of the most common oral cancers. It is generally highly malignant, grows fast, and is highly invasive. It often affects the tongue muscles, resulting in restricted tongue movement, making it difficult to speak, eat, and swallow. So, how much common knowledge do you know about tongue cancer? The following is an introduction for you.

In China, oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinomas mostly occur between the ages of 40 and 60, with more cases in men than in women. Gum cancer, tongue cancer, cheek cancer, palate cancer and maxillary sinus cancer are common. Oral cancer accounts for 1.4 to 5.0% of all malignant tumors in the north of the Yangtze River in my country, and 1.7 to 8.1% in the south of the Yangtze River. In India, it accounts for more than 40% of all malignant tumors.

Most tongue cancers are related to environmental factors. Some external factors such as heat, chronic injury, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and other radioactive substances can become carcinogenic factors. For example, tongue and buccal mucosal cancers can occur in areas of long-term and frequent stimulation such as residual roots, sharp tooth tips, and poor restorations. In addition, internal factors such as neuropsychiatric factors, endocrine factors, the body's immune status, and genetic factors have been found to be related to the occurrence of oral cancer.

Before tongue cancer occurs, there is usually a precancerous lesion stage, such as oral leukoplakia, traumatic ulcers, papilloma, etc. Because the tongue has abundant lymphatic vessels and blood circulation, and the tongue has frequent mechanical movements, tongue cancer metastasizes earlier and has a higher chance of metastasis. Tongue cancer on the back of the tongue or across the midline of the tongue can metastasize to the contralateral cervical lymph nodes, and cancer in the front of the tongue often metastasizes to the upper and middle groups of the submandibular and deep cervical lymph nodes.

Cancer at the tip of the tongue can metastasize to the submental area or directly to the middle group of deep cervical lymph nodes. Cancer at the base of the tongue can metastasize not only to the submandibular or deep cervical lymph nodes, but also to the lymph nodes behind the styloid process and the posterior pharynx. Tongue cancer can also metastasize to distant sites, usually to the lungs. Comprehensive treatment with surgery as the main approach generally involves primary resection and cervical lymph node dissection, combined with radiotherapy or chemotherapy and biological immunotherapy before or after surgery.

In addition, tongue cancer is the most easily metastatic type of oral cancer. It is generally recommended to perform selective (preventive) neck lymph node dissection at the same time as surgery (that is, lymph node dissection on the affected side is performed when no symptoms of lymph node metastasis are found clinically). Clinical observation results show that the cure rate of patients who undergo selective neck dissection at the same time is higher than that of therapeutic neck dissection performed after neck lymph node metastasis is found.