While evidence suggests an increasing incidence of tongue cancer in young adults, published findings regarding the prognostic role of age at diagnosis are inconsistent. We performed a meta‐analysis of the literature to highlight key points that might help in understanding the association between age of oral tongue cancer patients at diagnosis and their prognosis. According to age at diagnosis, a systematic literature review of all published cohort studies assessing the recurrence risks and mortality associated with tongue cancer was conducted. We compared the risk estimates between patients aged >45 years and those aged <45 years at diagnosis. Random‐effects models were used to calculate summary relative risk estimates (SRRs) according to different clinical outcomes and sources of between‐study heterogeneity (I²) and bias. We included 31 independent cohort studies published between 1989 and 2019; these studies included a total of 28,288 patients. When risk estimations were not adjusted for confounders, no significant association was found between age at diagnosis and overall survival (OS). Conversely, after adjustment for confounders, older age at diagnosis was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality. The difference between SRRs for adjusted and unadjusted estimates was significant (p < 0.01). Younger patients had a significantly higher risk of local recurrence. Younger patients with oral tongue cancer have better OS but a greater risk of recurrence than older patients. These findings should be validated in a large prospective cohort study which considers all confounders and prognostic factors.

We reviewed the current published literature on the impact of oral microbiota on oral cavity leukoplakia (OLK), aiming at clarifying its role in disease transformation. The analysis unveiled that bacterial richness and diversity in the oral cavity tend to be decreased in OLK compared to healthy controls, with a reduction in the prevalent commensals, such as Streptococci, and elevation of anaerobes. Moreover, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia are recurrent findings, and they already have been linked to periodontal disease. These microbial community changes may also represent a marker for the transition from OLK to oral squamous cell carcinoma. Unfortunately, the reviewed studies present several limitations, making an objective comparison difficult. To overcome these biases, longitudinal studies are necessary.

Objective: The prognostic role of age among patients affected by Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OTSCC) is a topic of debate. Recent cohort studies have found that patients diagnosed at 40 years of age or younger have a better prognosis. The aim of this cohort study was to clarify whether age is an independent prognostic factor and discuss heterogeneity of outcomes by stage and treatments in different age groups.Methods: We performed a study on 577 consecutive patients affected by primary tongue cancer and treated with surgery and adjuvant therapy according to stage, at European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS. Patients with age at diagnosis below 40 years totaled 109 (19%). Overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), tongue specific free survival (TSFS) and cause-specific survival (CSS) were compared by age groups. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the independent role of age.Results: The median follow-up time was 5.01 years (range 0–18.68) years with follow-up recorded up to February 2020. After adjustment for all the significant confounding and prognostic factors, age remained independently associated with OS and DSF (respectively, p = 0.002 and p = 0.02). In CSS and TSFS curves, the role of age seems less evident (respectively, p = 0.14 and p = 0.0.37). In the advanced stage sub-group (stages III–IV), age was significantly associated with OS and CSS with almost double increased risk of dying (OS) and dying from tongue cancer (CSS) in elderly compared to younger groups (OS: HR = 2.16 95%, CI: 1.33–3.51, p= 0.001; CSS: HR = 1.76 95%, CI: 1.03–3.01, p = 0.02, respectively). In our study, young patients were more likely to be treated with intensified therapies (glossectomies types III–V and adjuvant radio-chemotherapy). Age was found as a prognostic factor, independently of other significant factors and treatment. Also the T–N tract involved by disease and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio ≥3 were independent prognostic factors.Conclusions: Young age at diagnosis is associated with a better overall survival. Fewer younger people than older people died from tongue cancer in advanced stages.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a large effect on the management of cancer patients. This study reports on the approach and outcomes of cancer patients receiving radical surgery with curative intent between March and September 2020 (in comparison to 2019) in the European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS (IEO) in Milan and the South East London Cancer Alliance (SELCA). Both institutions implemented a COVID-19 minimal pathway where patients were required to self-isolate prior to admission and were swabbed for COVID-19 within 72 h of surgery. Positive patients had surgery deferred until a negative swab. At IEO, radical surgeries declined by 6% as compared to the same period in 2019 (n = 1477 vs. 1560, respectively). Readmissions were required for 3% (n = 41), and <1% (n = 9) developed COVID-19, of which only one had severe disease and died. At SELCA, radical surgeries declined by 34% (n = 1553 vs. 2336). Readmissions were required for 11% (n = 36), <1% (n = 7) developed COVID-19, and none died from it. Whilst a decline in number of surgeries was observed in both centres, the implemented COVID-19 minimal pathways have shown to be safe for cancer patients requiring radical treatment, with limited complications and almost no COVID-19 infections.

We analyzed the inclusion of sex and/or gender (S/G) in Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) clinical studies, through inspecting ClinicalTrials.gov (AACT) and the mention of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) on a specific subgroup, namely oral cavity, larynx and oropharynx. Only 5% of HNC studies mention S/G as a planned analytical variable. Proportionally more observational studies treated S/G as an analytical variable than interventional studies (10% vs 5%, P-value ≤ 0.001), 8% of studies that mentioned S/G involved more than 100 subjects while 4% less than 100 (P-value ≤ 0.001). In randomized protocols, S/G was mentioned more in studies with a planned sample of more than 100 patients and including HPV status (P-value < 0.05). Small controlled studies have lower mention of S/G as an analytical variable than uncontrolled studies (4% and 10%, respectively among studies with less than 100 subjects). Significantly greater mention of S/G as an analytical variable is observed in controlled and randomized studies with a sample size greater than 100 subjects. HPV was mentioned in only 18% of oral cavity-larynx-oropharynx studies. Interventional studies do not regularly account for S/G during HNC study design. Thus, although fundamental, in studies concerning HNC the S/G variable is often not considered. In trials published in scientific journals (P-value = 0.01) and in more recent clinical trials (P-value = 0.002), S/G is taken more into account suggesting an increasing awareness on its importance. However, the need to systematically include S/G in study design clearly emerges, to better highlight sex-related differences in disease incidence and prognosis and best imbue science and medicine with the proper biological and cultural differences.

Background: A multicentric study was conducted on technical reproducibility of compartmental tongue surgery (CTS) in advanced tongue cancers (OTSCC) and comparison to standard wide margin surgery (SWMS).Methods: We studied 551 patients with OTSCC treated by CTS and 50 by SWMS. Oncological outcomes were analyzed. A propensity score was performed to compare survival endpoints for the two cohorts.Results: In the CTS group, survival and prognosis were significantly associated with positive lymph‐nodes, extranodal extension, depth of invasion and involvement of the soft tissue connecting the tongue primary tumor to neck lymph nodes (T‐N tract), independently from the center performing the surgery. SWMS versus CTS showed a HR Cause‐Specific Survival (CSS) of 3.24 (95% CI: 1.71–6.11; p < 0.001); HR Loco‐Regional Recurrence Free Survival (LRRFS) of 2.54 (95% CI: 1.47–4.40; p < 0.001); HR Overall Survival (OS) of 0.11 (95% CI: 0.01–0.77; p = 0.03).Conclusion: Performing the CTS could provide better CSS and LRRFS than SWMS regardless of the center performing the surgery, in advanced OTSSC.