Hello Everyone,

My dad has recently been diagnoised with a reoccurence cancer in his Tongue. I will summarize his medical history here:

He is currently 52 Years old, Male, Weight: 70kgs. Overall in good health and strong mind. Except the cancer pain in his mouth is slowly wearing him down.

2010 - April
He was diagnosed on 16th APRIL�2010 with Carcinoma of the tongue (stage cT1N0M0), Left Latreal Margin /border of tongue there were no clinically significant lymph nodes palpable in the neck.

On 28th April�2010 , He was subjected to a wide excision of the lesion amounting to partial Glossectomy with at least 1.5 cm disease free margins in all direction.

Radiation was performed from 15th July 2010 to 28th August2010 in total of 33 fractions. (post-operative) Post Treatment final histopathology showed no active disease stage T1N0M0.

2012

Having developed a /fungal infection on his tongue in October 2011, he was advised some anti-fungal medication which helped reduce the irritation for a short period of 3-4 months. Repeated check-ups were done, on 24 July 2012, diagnosed an unhealed ulcerated area measuring about 1cm x 1 cm present on the lingual alveolar ridge (Rt side of mandible) under surface showed white plaque like area.
3 Sept 2010 diagnosed bleeding granular an area under his tongue which was persisting for 3 months. He developed non-healing and persistent sores/lesions on the tongue.

PET scan done in July 2012 revealed:

IMPRESSION:
Metabolically active:
(i) Right sublingual lymphadenopathy --? Inflammatory?? Neoplastic lesion,
(ii) Lesion in right lung (lower & middle lobes) --? Granulomatous disease
(iii) Para tracheal lymph node � indeterminate nature (? inflammatory)
No other metabolically active disease is noted elsewhere in the body.

PET SCAN done in Nov 2012 revealed:

-Hypermetaboloc soft-tissues are seen in the tongue (tip & adjacent anterior to sublingual region on right side, anteriorly (SUV max 7,6, previously 4.0)
-Biodistribution of FDG appears normal
-Right alveolar region of the mandible shows increased FDG-uptage, along with gingival uptake on either side (SUV max on right: 4.6, previously 3.7; on left SUV man 3.7, previously 2.9)

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At this stage we are getting different opinions from different doctors. Some are suggesting doing Chemo and some are suggesting Surgery with Chemo. Since we are getting mixed opinions, its a hard decision to make. Doctors who are suggesting Chemo are mentioning that Surgery won't help the case. Whereas the doctors who are suggesting Surgery are supporting this path as a better path...

I would appreciate if anyone can provide some insight based on their case. My dad is currently in a lot of pain is taking Morphine as pain killer. Doctors said that his Jaw has shifted a bit due the cancer cells.

Welcome to OCF! Has your father had a biopsy done to confirm this is a recurrence? PET scans are known for false positives and will light up for inflamation. If this has been going on since July, thats a long time to be fooling around without a defitinitve diagnosis.

As a rule, surgeons cut and will always recommend surgery, chemo docs recommend chemo and radiation docs recommend radiation. Sure makes it hard to decide which path to take. Has your father gotten a second opinion?

If your father is in alot of pain, he can be given the fentanyl patch. Morphine is very short term and wears off quickly, it can also be difficult to monitor. The patch is much easier than constantly taking pain killer meds. The patch will provide relief in about 24 hours after its placed. Follow instructions exactly, no long hot showers or baths, never rip, cut, fold or tear the patch. Change it every 72 hours. He could then only take the morphine for any break thru pain.

We do have several members from Canada who will be able to help guide you to other treatment facility options. I do not know what is available to you in Canada.

Best wishes!!!

Hi which hospital are you at? From what I've been told - usually surgery is the best way to treat this type of cancer. Eliminate the bulk of it then hit it with chemo and rads. Chemo by itself will not cure this kind of cancer, and rads can be given a second time- look into this as an option as well. Go to a ccc if there is one near by- I see you are in Ontario please tell me you are not being treated at Mississauga? Take care - and ditto to what someone else said they've been messing around with this long enough. Have they biopsied anything? Is your dad a smoker?

I had tongue cancer (see below). My tumour was more than 4 cm. I had surgery, and now the tumour is gone, as are the lymph nodes it affected. I will be following up with chemo+rad to make sure we get all of the cells.

Seemed like a good plan to me.

I don't want to do this again, and the surgery seemed the clearest way to make as sure as possible I don't have to.