Cancer of the tongue comprises between 25 and 50% of all intraoral cancer. It is less common in women than in men except in certain geographic localities, chiefly the Scandinavian countries, where the incidence of all intraoral cancer in women is high incidence of a preexisting Plummer-Vinson syndrome. There are two parts to your tongue, the oral tongue and the base of the tongue. The front two third of the tongue is oral part. Cancers that develops in this part is called as mouth or oral cancer. The base of the tongue is the back third of the tongue. Cancers that develop in this part are called as oropharyngeal cancer.
The most common presenting sign of carcinoma of the tongue is a painless mass or ulcer, although in most patients the lesion ultimately becomes painful, especially when it becomes secondarily infected. The tumor may begin as a superficially indurated ulcer with slightly raised borders and may proceed either to develop a fun gating, exophytic mass or to infiltrate the deep layers of the tongue, producing fixation and induration without much surface change
The symptoms of tongue cancer may include
The treatment of cancer of tongue is a difficult problem. The treatment depends on the size of the cancer. The treatment procedures are
One of these or combination of these treatments may be required. The best treatment for very small tongue cancers is surgery. For larger tumors that have spread to the lymph nodes in the neck, then the combination of surgery and radiotherapy are required.