Survival Rate Of Tongue Cancer In Diagnosed Cases

Tongue cancer is one of the most common head and neck malignancies. The major risk factors associated are smoking, drinking alcohol, and, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.

In cases of mouth cancer, among conventional treatments, surgery is the recommended treatment in many cases. This may be combined with radiation and chemotherapy.

In designing an effective treatment regimen, the main highlights are improving care for patients with this condition and predicting prognosis before the treatment plan’s implementation.

Incidence of Tongue Cancer

Data reported in the literature refers that there is an alarming increasing incidence of both oral and base tongue squamous cell carcinoma/tongue cancer. The prevalence of tongue cancer is presented with female gender predilection without the traditional risk factors of alcohol or tobacco use and in association with HPV infection.

Is Tongue Cancer life-threatening?

Yes, it is a disaster to be diagnosed with cancer, and it is a frightening experience. But as it is often mentioned that cancer, if can’t be cured, can be treated with a good prognosis and is referred to as a good outcome with an increased disease-free survival DFS rate.

Survival Rate Of Tongue Cancer

The survival rate for the patients diagnosed with cancer is calculated from the time of diagnosis, while the oncologists use statistics to help determine treatment options and to predict the prognosis. The survival rate is also dependent on other factors, such as the type of cancer, a person’s age, and the time period.

The percentage of people who are alive at a certain time after a diagnosis is mostly referred to in the range of five-year periods. DFS to relate survival rates to cancer patients is the amount of time period.

Lived by the patient without recurrence of disease after the treatment is completed, and it does not include deaths from other factors.

The management of tongue cancer in its advanced diagnosed stages is primarily surgical, in combination with radiation. And only radiation is opted for the cases with advanced disease, being poor surgical candidates, unresectable.

The average cost for mouth cancer treatment in India is Rs. 2,35,000 and above, for more details, you can contact the experts in our team of cancer rounds.

This indicates that unless there is a clear contraindication for surgery or the tumor is unresectable, surgery can be offered as primary treatment. And to be specific in lieu of early-stage tongue cancer (T1 or T2) single-modality therapy, namely surgery or radiation has been successful and the survival rate is about 60%.

But for the cases with advanced disease (T3 or T4) -those that have a poor response to single-modality treatment show poor prognosis with decreased survival rate. For tongue cancer or mouth cancer with the best treatment provided timely after the early diagnosis of the disease, a survival rate of about 80% is observed.

This means that around 80 out of 100 (around 80%) patients will survive their cancer for a year or more after diagnosis. And 60 out of 100 cases (60%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more after diagnosis. But around 50 out of 100 cases (around 50%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more after diagnosis.

The five-year relative survival rate of tongue cancer also depends on the stage of cancer. If cancer has spread far, the five-year relative survival rate of tongue cancer is 63 percent.

As these survival rates show, earlier diagnosis leads to better outcomes- the role of self-screening is really important. Early diagnosis of tongue cancer allows for effective treatment options, with fewer side effects, and a good five-year survival rate with increased DFS.

It is also important not to forget that tongue cancer can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. Over time, it may spread to other sites in the mouth, other areas of the head and neck, or other parts of the body.

Within parts of the tongue divided anatomically- the back third of the tongue, which starts in the throat, – known as the base of the tongue is associated with decreased survival rate, poor prognosis, and more chances of recurrence.