Resumen
Surgical therapy for tongue carcinoma is challenging due to the various important functions of the tongue. In order to compensate for loss of tongue tissue and function, flap reconstruction has been firmly established. Interestingly, a large number of early-stage tongue cancer receive flap reconstruction despite minor tissue loss. This study aims to investigate functional and survival differences as well as epidemiologic characteristics in tongue carcinoma patients with or without flap reconstruction. Our retrospective and prospective analyses show no significant survival or functional differences between the groups with or without flap reconstruction. Still, we were able to demonstrate that the possibility of flap reconstruction leads to a more generous tumor resection, less frequent presence of close margin, and subsequently less frequent use of toxic adjuvant therapy regimens. Moreover, for the first time, a significantly higher female ratio could be depicted in the reconstruction group (p = 0.02). These findings suggest that, apart from oncologic and functional factors, proportional aspects should be taken into consideration for future decisions on the optimal reconstruction method.