Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol 89, Issue 11 611-615, Copyright © 1996 by Royal Society of Medicine
ORIGINAL ARTICLES |
JA Woolgar
Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, School of Dentistry, Liverpool, England.
In a series of 76 patients with carcinoma of the tongue the occurrence of metastasis was related to the size and histological features of the primary tumour. 64% of patients with metastasis and 10% of patients with clinically negative neck showed spread beyond the node capsule. Fast tracks (long lymphatic pathways uninterrupted by nodes) seemed to be involved in the spread of metastatic cancer in at least 20% of patients with metastasis. With surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy based on the pathological stage, metastases confined to lymph nodes did not appear to affect short-term outcome.