Fulminant disseminated carcinomatosis arising from squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue tends to be an indolent disease. Tumors that present as small, localized lesions of the anterior tongue have a median five-year survival greater than 70 percent whether treated by irradiation or surgery. Distant metastases occur in only 7.5 percent. This report describes a well-differentiated T1N0M0 squamous cell carcinoma of the anterior tongue that progressed from diagnosis to death of the patient in less than nine months. At autopsy, the tumor had disseminated widely, including simultaneous metastases to all layers of the heart. It is concluded that factors other than morphology and anatomic extent at presentation may modify prognosis in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.