The Value of Post-treatment Surveillance for Detection of Loco-regional Recurrences in Oral Tongue Cancer

Background/Aim: Follow-up after treatment for oral tongue cancer consists of routine follow-up visits for five years. It has been suggested that this program is inefficient for finding recurrences. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how recurrences are detected; at routine follow-up visits, at patient-initiated visits, or incidentally. The secondary objective was to investigate whether the two-year survival after diagnosis of recurrence depended on the manner of detection. Patients and Methods: Patients with recurrences from oral tongue cancer between 1988 and 2016 were included. Survival was analysed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Results: A total of 75 patients were included. In 67% of patients, recurrences were detected at routine follow-up visits, and in 27% at patient-initiated visits. No significant difference in survival between the groups was found (p=0.56). Conclusion: The majority of recurrences were detected at routine follow-up visits. Patient-initiated recurrence detection did not lead to increased survival.