Tongue Cancer Alert: Don’t Ignore That Persistent Sore – 46% of Cases Strike Under 50
Tongue Cancer: A Growing Concern Among Young People
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When it comes to cancer, it’s easy to think of it as a disease that commonly occurs in older people, with the exception of leukemia. However, tongue cancer is not uncommon in relatively young people, even those under 30. Tongue cancer is easily confused with a mouth ulcer, which often delays diagnosis and treatment.
Tongue Cancer on the Rise
The tongue is a very flexible muscular organ that senses the taste, temperature, and texture of food and allows it to be picked up and swallowed. It is also one of the common areas of the mouth where cancer develops. According to statistics, the number of patients with tongue cancer is constantly increasing, and the increase in head and neck cancers is also very high.
According to the National Cancer Registry Project’s annual report, the number of new head and neck cancer patients increased 29% over the past five years, from 32,147 in 2017 to 41,460 in 2021. By comparison, the number of tongue cancer patients increased 33%, from 748 in 2017 to 993 in 2021, the largest increase among head and neck cancers, excluding lip cancer, which has a small number of patients.
Early Symptoms and Diagnosis
Early symptoms of tongue cancer include inflammatory ulcers with circular necrosis, white leukoplakia with thick white spots, and red spots. More than half of tongue cancers occur on one side of the tongue, and in the early stages, there may be no pain. However, if the tumor invades the nerve of the tongue, it causes severe pain.
Han Seung-hoon, professor of otolaryngology at Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital of Hallym University, said: “Most stomatitis heals naturally within 1 to 2 weeks, but if these symptoms do not disappear for more than 3 weeks or the lesions become larger, tongue cancer should be suspected.”
Treatment and Prevention
When tongue cancer is diagnosed, the extent of invasion of surrounding tissues and metastases is assessed through imaging tests. Treatment primarily involves surgery to remove all lesions, including normal tissue around the tumor. Tongue cancer easily spreads to the lymph nodes around the neck, and in this case, surgery to remove the lymph nodes around the neck is required depending on the thickness of the lesion.
Tongue cancer is a difficult cancer to treat, but if detected and treated early, the function of the tongue can be preserved as much as possible. However, if the treatment period is skipped, the cancer spreads rapidly and the cure rate inevitably decreases.
Tongue Cancer Risk Factors and Prevention through Questions and Answers
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Q. What are the main causes of tongue cancer?
A. Smoking is an absolute risk factor for tongue cancer and other factors mentioned include alcohol consumption, viruses, radiation or ultraviolet rays, dietary habits, nutritional deficiencies, and genetic predisposition.
Q. How to prevent tongue cancer?
A. To prevent oral cancer, including tongue cancer, it is best to always clean your mouth and avoid spicy foods, smoking, and excessive drinking. Also, be careful not to irritate the oral mucosa with sharp teeth or ill-fitting dentures, and regular check-ups and improvements are necessary.
D. Symptoms and diagnosis of tongue cancer
A. Most patients often complain of swelling of the tongue or discomfort when eating. Most lesions occur on the sides or bottom of the tongue and rarely occur on the back or center, especially on the sides or back third, and it is known that the onset on the tip of the tongue is rare.
Q. How to self-diagnose?
A. The most basic and commonly performed test for tongue cancer is examination and palpation by visual and tactile sensations of the examiner without any special treatment. In addition, imaging methods such as general radiology, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, and upper digestive tract endoscopy, as well as histopathological tests are performed to diagnose tongue cancer.
Q. What is the treatment for tongue cancer?
A. Surgery and radiation therapy are mainly used to treat tongue cancer, and depending on the situation, antitumor drug therapy may also be selected. Factors to consider when choosing a surgical procedure include side effects, cost, convenience, compliance, long-term results, location, stage, histological findings, and the presence of lymph node metastases.