Radiotherapy for Oral Cavity Cancer

Shim, Jae Won; Yoo, Seong Yul; Koh, Kyoung Hwan; Cho, Chul Koo; Yun, Hyong Geun; Kim, Jae Young

Abstract

Eighty five patients of oral cavity cancer, treated with radiation at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, during the period from March 1985 to September 1990 were analyzed retrospectively. Among 85 patients, 37 patients were treated with radiation only and 48 patients were treated with radiation following surgery And 70 patients received external irradiation only by 60Co with or without electron, the others were 7 patients for external irradiation plus interstitial implantation and 8 patients for external irradiation plus oral cone electron therapy. Primary sites were mobile tongue for 40 patients, mouth floor for 17 patients, palate for 12 patients, gingiva including retromolar trigone for 10 patients, buccal mucosa for 5 patients, and lip for 1 patient. According to pathologic classification, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common (77 patients). According to AJC TNM stage, stage I + II were 28 patients and stage III+IV were 57 patients. Acturial overall survival rate at 3 years was 43.9%, 3 year survival rates were 60.9% for stage I + II, and 23.l% for stage III+IV, respectively. As a prognostic factor, primary T stage was a significant factor (p<0.01). The others, age, location, lymph node metastasis, surgery, radiation dose, and cell differentiation were not statistically significant. Among those factors, radiation plus surgery was more effective than radiation only in T3+T4 or in any N stage although it was not statistically sufficient(p<0.1). From those results, it was conclusive that definitive radiotherapy was more effective than surgery especially in the view of pertainig of anatomical integrity and function in early stage, and radiation plus surgery was considered to be better therapeutic tool in advanced stage.