Tongue cancer is divided into several types

The most painful thing about tongue cancer is that you are hungry and can't eat. It has a great impact on the patient's body. Most people are frightened after finding out that they have tongue cancer, thinking that they will die soon after having cancer. In fact, this is wrong. In order to better treat it, everyone should understand the disease. Today, let's take a look at the types of tongue cancer:

Tongue cancer can be divided into two types according to its growth and manifestation.

1. Papillary type, mostly occurs at the tip of the tongue, initially the mucosal surface thickens, gradually bulges, and forms a papillary lump. The early lesions are relatively localized and grow slowly, then the tumor gradually increases and spreads to the surrounding tissues, or forms ulcers, or infiltrates into deep tissues.

2. Infiltrative or ulcerative type, which manifests as ulcers or infiltrative masses in the early stage, grows rapidly, mainly invades deep tissues, covers a wide range, and is more malignant than the papillary type. The ulcer has hard raised edges, sunken centers, eroded surfaces, and may be secondary infected, with severe pain.

Dissemination and metastasis

(I) Spread. The direct spread of tongue cancer is invasive growth, with unclear boundaries with surrounding tissues. Its horizontal infiltration is manifested as cross-regional invasion. For example, cancer of the lateral edge or belly of the tongue erodes the floor of the mouth and the lingual tissue of the mandibular body, and cancer of the root of the tongue can invade the palatoglossal arch, the posterior pharyngeal wall, and the anterior wall of the tongue periphrasia. Its vertical infiltration breaks through the mucosal layer and infiltrates into the muscle layer. In the late stage of tongue cancer, it can invade the contralateral tongue muscle and even involve the entire tongue.

(II) Metastasis: The tongue is a bone and flesh organ with rich blood supply and lymphatic tissue. It is highly mobile and active (chewing, speaking, etc.), so it is more likely to metastasize to lymph nodes. Literature reports that the rate can be as high as 60 to 80 percent. The site of metastasis is the deep cervical lymph node group. The metastasis rate and number gradually increase with T classification. T4 and late-stage, recurrent cases can metastasize to the posterior cervical triangle lymph node group (i.e., the lymph nodes of the transverse chain and the secondary chain). Tongue cancer that invades the midline, crosses the midline, and originates on the back of the tongue can metastasize to bilateral lymph nodes. In the late stage of tongue cancer, lung metastasis or distant metastasis to other parts can occur.