Abstract: Objective To explore the prognostic factors for 132 cases with tongue squamous cell carcinoma（TSCC）in Xinjiang.
Methods One hundred and thirtytwo patients with pathologically confirmed TSCC admitted by the first affiliated hospital of Xinjiang medical university from Jan 2003 to Dec 2011 were enrolled. There were 108 cases of surgery（94 with routine cervical lymph node dissection）and 24 cases without surgery. According to the treatment protocols， 29 cases were treated with surgery alone， 10 cases with radiotherapy alone and 93 cases with comprehensive treatment. The patients were followed up and overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The 5-year survival rates of different clinicopathological parameters（gender， ethnicity， age， degree of differentiation， T stage， N stage， TNM stage， invading the tongue root， invading the midline， invading the mouth floor and local recurrence）and treatment protocols（primary lesion resection， radiotherapy， chemotherapy， cervical lymph node dissection and surgical situation） were investigated. The Cox regression was employed to analyze the independent prognostic factors. Results Of the 132 patients， 9 were lost during the followup periods ranging from 5 to 120 months with 61 alive and 62 dead（58 of cancerrelated diseases）. The median overall survival time was 800 months and 5year survival rate was 598％. The 5year survival rates varied among different degree of differentiation， T stage， N stage， TNM stage， invading the midline， invading the mouth floor and local recurrence or primary lesion resection， radiotherapy， cervical lymph node dissection and surgical situation. Degree of differentiation， lesion resection， local recurrence， TNM stage and radiotherapy were independent factors affecting the prognosis.
Conclusion Curative resection of the primary lesion， rational cervical lymph node dissection and prevention of local recurrence may improve the prognosis of patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Surgery alone can provide better prognosis for stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ， and comprehensive therapy including surgery can give better prognosis for stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ.