ONCOmmunity

The Value of Post-treatment Surveillance for Detection of Loco-regional Recurrences in Oral Tongue Cancer.

By: Fredrik Landström, Elin Aspenblad, Johan Reizenstein, Stefan Kristiansson

Department of Otolaryngology, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden; fredrik.landstrom@regionorebrolan.se.
2021-08-25; doi: 10.21873/anticanres.15321

Abstract

Background/aim

Follow-up after treatment for oral tongue cancer consists of routine follow-up visits for five years. It has been suggested that this program is inefficient for finding recurrences. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how recurrences are detected; at routine follow-up visits, at patient-initiated visits, or incidentally. The secondary objective was to investigate whether the two-year survival after diagnosis of recurrence depended on the manner of detection.

Patients

Patients with recurrences from oral tongue cancer between 1988 and 2016 were included. Survival was analysed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test.

Results

A total of 75 patients were included. In 67% of patients, recurrences were detected at routine follow-up visits, and in 27% at patient-initiated visits. No significant difference in survival between the groups was found (p=0.56).

Conclusion

The majority of recurrences were detected at routine follow-up visits. Patient-initiated recurrence detection did not lead to increased survival.