Elective treatment of the neck in cancer of the oral tongue.

Management of the clinically negative neck in patients with carcinoma of the oral tongue remains a complex and controversial subject. While statistical proof of the value of elective neck dissection in tongue cancer remains elusive, the high incidence of occult cervical metastases, even with small primary tumors, and the poor salvage rates and increased incidence of extracapsular spread in cases that have developed palpable adenopathy, provide a logical basis for treatment of the neck in a preclinical stage.