Comparison of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tongue in Younger and Older Groups in a Government Teaching Hospital in Tamil Nadu, Chennai, India

OBJECTIVES: To assess retrospective records of patients with tongue cancer (SCC) between October 1976 and December 2009 of patients over 35 years and less than 35 years of age in orders to determine the clinical, histological and molecular differences that would predispose towards early development of tongue cancer in younger patients. STUDY DESIGN: The medical records of 219 consecutive patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue between October 1976 and December 2009 was retrieved from the institutional oral pathology registry out of a total of 2225 SCC. They were divided into two groups; patients over 35 years of age and less than 35 years of age. Off the 219 tongue cancers, 26 were found in patients less than 35 years of age and the rest was found in older age group. The two groups were compared clinicopathologically and a subset of ten cases was selected on the basis of TNM status for immunohistochemistry with markers p27 and Cyclin D1 to observe variance at the molecular level. RESULTS: SCC of the tongue comprised 9.84% of the total 2225 SCC. Off the 219 tongue SCC, 11.88% occurred in younger age group and 88.12% occurred in older age group. Clinically, the lateral border of the tongue was the most frequent site involved in both groups. Gender involvement showed equal distribution. Histopathologically, the distributions of different grades were equally found in both groups. Immunohistochemically, no difference was found with regard to the expression of cyclin D1 and p27. Etiologically, irritating dental factors was a major risk factor in younger age group and traditional risk factors were major risk factors for the older age group. Both the groups showed a gradual increase in the number of cases recorded decade wise. CONCLUSION: This study found no significant differences between SCC (tongue) between younger and older age groups, except for predisposing cause. Further study is required to better understand the etiological difference