Background: The role of electrochemotherapy (ECT) using intratumoral bleomycin and electroporation as a first line treatment for oral tongue carcinoma has not been defined.
Aims/objectives: To evaluate the method of ECT in oral tongue carcinoma.
Material and methods: Twenty-one successive patients with primary T1-T2 oral cancer predominantly of the oral tongue underwent either ECT (test; n = 9), or standard surgical resection and reconstruction (control; n = 12). Outcome variables were: local recurrence rates, 10-year-survival, adverse events, treatment cost, and quality of life.
Results: The 10-year local recurrence rate (44.4%) was higher and the tumour-specific survival rate (55.6%) was lower in the ECT group compared to the control group (17% and 91.6%, respectively). Postoperative haemorrhage, dysphagia, and pain were more frequent in ECT patients, treatment time was shorter, but treatment cost was higher. Quality of life was not improved by ECT.
Conclusions and significance: Our results indicate that ECT seems not as suitable for the treatment of early tongue cancer as it is for neoplastic and metastatic skin lesions and less favourable than standard surgical therapy.
Keywords: Oral cancer; bleomycin; electrochemotherapy; head and neck; squamous cell carcinoma.