A retrospective analysis of 79 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tougue treated in Seoul national university hospital between 1980 and 1993 was undertaken. Combination therapy with surgery and radiation therapy was performed in 29 patients, surgery alone in 6 patients, radiation therapy alone in 38 patients, and other treatments based on chemotherapy in 6 patients. We have tried to analyse clinical features of tongue cancer, recurrence, complication and overall survival rates and disease-free survival rates in relation to treatment modality and stage of the disease. Patient treated by radiation therapy only showed very high recurrence rate, especially in cases of early lesions, and cases with no regional lymph node metastasis at the time of diagnosis showed frequent recurrences in the neck after treatment. Patients treated by combination therapy showed significantly higher 5-year survival rate than cases treated by single treatment method. Therefore, more aggressive treatment methods including elective neck dissections are needed in the treatment of tongue cancer.