Abstract

1.1. Background: Intraoral resection of early tongue cancer minimally affects the quality of life (QOL) of patients; however, local recurrence of the tumor requires radical resection and negatively affects QOL as well as patient prognosis. The present study was performed to clarify factors affecting recurrence of tongue cancers undergoing intraoral resection.
1.2. Methods: In total, 174 patients (T1: 105 patients and T2: 69 patients) with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue receiving intraoral resection were enrolled in the study, including 106 male patients and 68 female patients (aged 27-88 years, mean 58 years). Tumor recurrence was observed in 10 of 105 patients with T1 stage cancer (9.5%) and in 6 of 69 patients with T2 stage cancer (8.7%). The clinicopathological factors, including immunohistochemistry for p53, Ki67, and vimentin, were analyzed.
1.3. Results: An infiltration pattern and vimentin expression were associated with tongue cancer recurrence. Specifically, tumors with positive vimentin expression exhibited a higher ratio of endophytic growth, and multivariate analysis revealed that the Ki67 labeling index and vimentin expression were independent factors affecting tumor recurrence.
1.4. Conclusion: The mode of tumor invasion and the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, as evidenced by vimentin immunohistochemistry, assisted the identification of high-risk patients with tongue cancer undergoing intraoral resection. Intense follow-up with the aid of multimodal therapies after surgery is necessary in this group of high-risk patients.

Keywords: Tongue cancer, Recurrent, Infiltration gamma, Vimentin expression