my aunt had a broken tooth that caused her tongue to become irritated. Do to that fact she lost a lot of weight. Now the doctors tell her that she has a cancerous tumor in her throat that was caused by her tongue. Even through radiation and chemo, which they suggest, what is her survival rate? She also had a tracheonomy done and is doing great in that area.
Thanks for your question on Chat Doctor. I think your aunt is having total lobectomy (removal of tongue) with removal of vocal cord. That is why she is on tracheotomy tube. In such patients if proper hygiene and tracheotomy care is followed, life expectancy is good. Almost 3-4 years. The problem in such patients are recurrent chest infection due to 1. Poor suctioning of tracheotomy tube.2. Poor oral hygiene3. Poor cough reflex and due to this retained secretions.4. Overall poor immunity because of poor oral intake and chemotherapy. So if recurrent chest infections are present than prognosis is bad. Life expectancy is less than 1-2 years.