Survival of patients who needed salvage surgery for recurrence after radiotherapy for oral carcinoma

Objective: To find out How long patients with oral carcinoma survived after the primary tumour had been treated by radiotherapy and who required salvage surgery for recurrence; to see if there were any significant differences in age, sex, site, size, and histology of the tumours in relation to survival; and to see if a-he time of the recurrence had any effect on the survival, Design: Retrospective analysis of case notes, Setting: Teaching Hospital, Scotland. Subjects: 370 consecutive patients, 187 (51%) of whom were initially treated by radiotherapy; 58 of the 187 (31%) developed a recurrence that was considered suitable for salvage surgery, Results and conclusions: 43/58 patients had died and 15 patients were still alive at the time of the study, the median (range) survival of the groups was 21 (6-89) months compared with 72 (19-212) months, respectively (P = 0.0001), Other significant differences included age at presentation for men (P = 0.004), and the increased likelihood of survival if the initial site elf the tumour was the tongue (P = 0.02), There was also a highly significant correlation between time to recurrence and survival amongst fr-lose who died (P = 0.002), A short recurrence time may suggest a less radical surgical salvage option if reduced survival is likely. Why there should be such an association is unknown.