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Surgery may be more effective than chemotherapy for treating tongue cancer, according to a new study.

New research revealed that patients with tongue cancer who first underwent surgery had significantly better results than those who skipped surgery and went straight to chemotherapy.

Researchers said that latest findings goes against guidelines for larynx cancer, in which a single dose of chemotherapy helps determine which patients fare better with chemotherapy and radiation and which patients should elect for surgery. While previous studies revealed that this approach led to better patient survival and functional outcomes, the latest study describes it as a clear failure.

"To a young person with tongue cancer, chemotherapy may sound like a better option than surgery with extensive reconstruction. But patients with oral cavity cancer can't tolerate induction chemotherapy as well as they can handle surgery with follow-up radiation. Our techniques of reconstruction are advanced and offer patients better survival and functional outcomes," study author Douglas Chepeha, M.D., MSPH, professor of otolaryngology - head and neck surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a news release.

The latest study involved 19 people with advanced oral cavity cancer. Researchers found that patients who had surgery and sophisticated reconstruction followed by radiation therapy demonstrated significantly better survival rates and functional outcomes.

"The mouth is a very sensitive area," Chepeha said. "We know the immune system is critical in oral cavity cancer, and chemotherapy suppresses the immune system. If a person is already debilitated, they don't do well with chemotherapy."

"Despite the proven success of this strategy in laryngeal cancer, induction chemotherapy should not be an option for oral cavity cancer, and in fact it results in worse treatment-related complications compared to surgery," Chepeha added.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.