Tongue cancer in young patients: case report of a 26-year-old patient

INTRODUCTION This article presents the case of a 26-year-old woman with tongue cancer. The median age at the diagnosis of the tongue's cancer is 61 years. Only approximately 2% of patients are diagnosed before the age of 35. CASE PRESENTATION Our patient survived acute myeloid leukemia (AML) before her second year. She had been having recurrent, poorly healing aphtae on the right side of the tongue for a period of months before the symptoms of the tongue cancer appeared. As a treatment a partial glossectomy was conducted on the right side and a neck dissection of levels I-III. Than a reconstruction of the tongue with a radialis free vascularised flap from left side was performed. DISCUSSION It should be always looked for the causal factor in young patients with a neoplasm. There is strong evidence for second malignant neoplasms in survivors of childhood cancer.