Small Lesions of the Lip
Small Anterior Tongue Lesions
Small Lesions of the Buccal Mucosa
Small Lesions of the Floor of the Mouth
Small Lesions of the Lower Gingiva
Small Tumors of the Retromolar Trigone
Small Lesions of the Upper Gingiva and Hard Palate
Current Clinical Trials

Surgery and/or radiation therapy may be used, depending on the exact site.[1,2]

Standard treatment options:

• Surgery and radiation therapy produce similar cure rates, and the method of treatment is dictated by the anticipated cosmetic and functional results.

Standard treatment options:

1. Wide local excision is often used for small lesions that can be resected transorally.
2. For larger T1 lesions, either surgery or radiation therapy is an acceptable treatment. Interstitial implantation alone or with external-beam radiation therapy should be considered. Consideration should be given to irradiating the neck.

Standard treatment options:

1. Lesions smaller than 1 cm in diameter may be managed by surgery alone if the commissure is not involved. If the commissure is involved, radiation therapy (including brachytherapy) should be considered.
2. Larger T1 lesions may be treated by surgical excision with split-thickness skin graft or radiation therapy.

Standard treatment options:

1. Surgery and radiation therapy produce similar cure rates for T1 lesions.
2. In general for lesions smaller than 0.5 cm, excision alone is adequate if there is a margin of normal mucosa between the lesion and the gingiva.
3. For larger lesions, surgery is often used if the lesion is attached to the periosteum, whereas radiation therapy is often used if the lesion encroaches on the tongue.

Standard treatment options:

1. Small lesions may be treated by intraoral resection with or without a rim resection of bone and repaired with a split-thickness skin graft.
2. Radiation therapy may be used for small lesions but results are generally better after surgery alone.

Standard treatment options:

1. For early lesions without detectable bone invasion, limited resection of the mandible is performed.
2. If limited resection is not feasible, radiation therapy may be used initially with surgery reserved for radiation failure.

Standard treatment options:

1. Most small lesions are treated by surgical resection.
2. Postoperative radiation therapy may be used if appropriate.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with stage I lip and oral cavity cancer ¹. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.

General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site ².

References

1. Harrison LB, Sessions RB, Hong WK, eds.: Head and Neck Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott-Raven, 1999. 
   
   
2. Guerry TL, Silverman S Jr, Dedo HH: Carbon dioxide laser resection of superficial oral carcinoma: indications, technique, and results. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 95 (6 Pt 1): 547-55, 1986 Nov-Dec.  [PUBMED Abstract]