The clinical value of ¹²⁵I seeds implantation combined with chemotherapy for tongue cancer

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and short-term efficacy of CT-guided radioactive 125-iodine seed implantation combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of tongue cancer. Methods: We selected a consecutive series of 39 patients with tongue cancer, from the year 2012 to 2018 in Department of Otolaryngology of Tianjin First Center Hospital. Of the 39 patients, 18 were included in the experiment group who underwent CT-guided radioactive 125-iodine seed implantation and chemotherapy, while 21 were included in the control group who only received chemotherapy (Docetaxe, Cisplatin and Fluorouracil). During the follow-up, all patients underwent Enhanced CT or MR scan 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after 125-iodine seed implantation and we evaluated the short-term effect for them and analyzed the results. Results: The inhibition rate of tumor growth in the experiment group was higher than that in the control group (83.33% versus 42.86%, P < 0.05). During the follow-up, no patient suffered severe complications in the experiment group and their clinic symptom were mitigated obviously. Conclusion: CT-guided radioactive 125-iodine seed implantation combined with chemotherapy is a safe and effective treatment approach with minimal damage and fewer complications for tongue cancer. (authors)