A comparison of brachytherapy and surgery for the treatment of stage I-II squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

A retrospective study was conducted to compare the efficacy of low-dose-rate brachytherapy (LDR), high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR), and surgery for early tongue cancer. A total of 180 patients with stage I-II tongue cancer were divided into three treatment groups: LDR (78), HDR (26), and surgery (71). Local recurrence was seen in thirteen patients (17%) of the LDR, nine (35%) of the HDR, and four (6%) of the surgery group. After salvage therapy, final local cure was obtained for 71 patients (91%) of the LDR, 22 (85%) of the HDR, and 71 (100%) of the surgery group. Neck failure was recorded for eight patients in the LDR, six in the HDR, and three in the surgery group. The respective 5-year overall survival rates for the LDR, HDR and surgery groups were 84.0%, 72.9%, 95.4% for stage I, and 72.2%, 51.5%, 93.8% for stage II. These findings show that surgery is the optimal treatment method for patients with stage I-II tongue cancer.