Case Report
Head and Neck OncologyA patient with untreated tongue carcinoma surviving for 15 years
Head and Neck Oncology
Section snippets
Case report
A 43-year-old Japanese woman was referred to our department from a city hospital with a 1.8 cm × 1.0 cm white and red non-indurated lesion of the left border of the tongue on 22 November 1984 (Fig. 1). The histological examination of the biopsy specimen provided a diagnosis of well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The SCC showed that the pattern of invasion and the depth of invasion were invasion by solid cords, bands and strands involving only lamina propria (Fig. 2). Physical
Discussion
Clinicians sometimes experience cancer patients who refuse treatment even though their cancers are still in early stages and the patients are persuaded strongly by their doctors. Stell et al.10 specifically reviewed patients not treated for their squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck of 1977 patients: 15% of all patients were untreated and the most common reason for not treating the patients was that the carcinoma was too extensive (55%); a further 36% were too old or too infirm to be
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Cited by (2)
Exploring the reasons for delay in treatment of oral cancer
2008, Journal of the American Dental AssociationCitation Excerpt :The shortest time for a symptomatic patient to visit a clinician in this study was the same day that symptoms appeared, and the longest time was more than two years. Although the literature contains reports of oral cancer progressing slowly,23 in general, a delay of more than two years, as occurred in one case in this study, worsens the patient's overall long-term prognosis and complicates the treatment. Health care providers must place greater emphasis on educating patients about the importance of visiting a clinician as soon as oral symptoms develop.