Generally, from a doctor’s point of view, early-stage tongue cancer is considered to be tongue cancer less than 2 cm, and if it is greater than 4 cm, it is advanced tongue cancer; those in between are considered to be intermediate. Some doctors believe that the concept of intermediate stage does not exist, and if it is not early stage, it is intermediate and late stage. According to the International Union Against Cancer, staging is done according to the size of the tumor, whether the lymph nodes are metastatic and whether there are distant metastases. According to TNM staging, tongue cancer less than 2cm belongs to stage T1, which is stage I, i.e. early stage tongue cancer; 2-4cm belongs to stage II, which is intermediate stage tongue cancer; and greater than 4cm is advanced stage tongue cancer. If the lesion is less than 2cm, but there is lymph node metastasis, it is also considered as advanced tongue cancer.