Modified in-continuity resection is advantageous for prognosis and as a new surgical strategy for management of oral tongue cancer

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the application value of modified in-continuity resection compared with traditional in-continuity resection and discontinuous resection for patients with cT2 N0 M0 oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Study design: This was a retrospective cohort study. The predictor was surgical management. The main outcome assessment parameters were the 5-year intervening regional (submandibular area and floor of mouth) recurrence rate and the 5-year disease-specific survival rate. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were computed, and the P value was .05.

Results: We reviewed 406 patients: 212 in the discontinuous resection group, 101 in the in-continuity resection group, and 93 in the modified in-continuity resection group. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that modified in-continuity resection was better than discontinuous resection with regard to both 5-year intervening regional recurrence (6.3% vs 18.8%; P = .004) and 5-year disease-specific survival (88.6% vs 75.1%; P = .003). Additionally, modified in-continuity resection had a lower postoperative complication rate compared with in-continuity resection (3.8% vs 13.2%; P = .044).

Conclusions: The modified in-continuity resection is valuable for application in clinical practice for cT2 N0 M0 oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.