[Surgical treatment of cancer of the base of the tongue and epiglottis].

This paper reports the surgical treatment of 10 cases of cancer of the base of the tongue and the epiglottis resected by a translaryngeal approach. In addition, a brief description of the technique is introduced. All patients had squamous cell cancer which was obviously advanced to stage IV and the tumor mass had extended to the whole root of the tongue, the vallecula and the epiglottis. After operation, all patients learned to swallow effectively and no persistent aspiration occurred. The speech articulation was satisfactory. Postoperative follow-up of all the patients, the shortest being 13 months, revealed no local or cervical lymphatic recurrence, but two patients died of lung metastasis, one after 18 months and the other after 48 months. The translaryngeal approach maintains the integrity of the mandibular and occlusal joints, avoids deformity to the face and the anterior oral cavity and prevents scarring in those tissues affording maximal mobility of the tongue.