Compartmental tongue surgery

Introduction: Compartmental tongue surgery is a surgical method that aims at removing of the tumor-affected half of the tongue and the regional lymph nodes en bloc in a standardized way to decrease an option of the locoregional recurrence. Material and methods: Description of the surgical technique, review of the literature and our first experience in the group of 11 patients is presented. Results: Out of 11 patients, 9 males and 2 females, with disease of the clinical stage I–IV, locoregional control has been achieved in 9 patients (81.8%). One female had a local recurrence, 1 female a regional recurrence. Five patients died, one female patient with regional recurrence, 2 patients with distant metastases, 1 patient due to duplex malignancy and 1 patient due to other reasons. R0 resection was detected in 8 patients and the other 3 patients had a close resection margin at different stages of the disease. The postoperative defect was reconstructed in 10 patients with an infrahyoid myocutaneous pedicled flap and in 1 patient with pectoralis myocutaneous flap. Conclusions: Compartment tongue surgery in indicated cases seems to be a good method for achievement of the locoregional control of the disease and negative margins. The data need to be confirmed on a larger group of patients with evaluation of other, particularly functional, parameters. Keywords: glossectomy – tongue cancer – tongue surgery