Surgery in early cancer of the oral tongue (Tl-2). Wide excision versus hemiglossectomy.

Cancer of the oral tongue is a common disease. Thirty five (35%) percent of patients seen at our hospital are in Stages I&II. The choice of surgical treatment is a wide excision of the lesion (WE) or a hemiglossectomy (HG). This study was carried out to compare the local recu-rrences and survival in patients undergoing either a WE or HG for early cancer of the tongue. One hundred and twenty six (126) patients were evaluated, 40 underwent a WE and 86 HG. The local recurrence was higher in the WE group, 25% compared with 9% in the HG group; which is statistically significant (p=0.02). This was also seen in the Tl subgroup (p=0.003). Survival were better in the HG group (p=0.005), which was also seen for the Tl subgroup (p=0.004). Our study demonstrates that there is a lower incidence of local recurrences following a hemiglossectomy for Tl-2 tumours of the oral tongue with improved survivals. Our recommendation is that hemi-glossectomy should be the optimal surgery performed for early cancer of the oral tongue.