From 1986 to 1994, 61 patients with oral tongue epidermoid carcinoma were treated using low dose rate iridium brachytherapy. Eleven patients treated with combined external beam and brachytherapy and 8 with nodal metastases at presentation were excluded from the study. The results in 42 fully evaluable and regularly followed patients here retrospectively reviewed. In 22 cases clinical stage was T1 greater than 1 cm and in the remaining 20 T2, N0 M0; all were cases of epidermoid carcinoma. The patients received definitive brachytherapy to the primary site using plastic tube technique at a dose of 5067 Gy (median 60 Gy) at reference isodose. The dose rate ranged from 35 cGy/h to 80 cGy/h (median 53 cGy/h). Elective neck dissection was performed in 24 patients, whereas a surveillance protocol was adopted in the remaining 18 cases. After an average follow-up of 40 months, 5 year absolute and disease specific survival (Kaplan Meier) was 61% and 88% respectively. Two patients failed at the primary site (local control probability 96%). Nodal metastases were found in 6 of 24 electively dissected patients and developed subsequently in 3 of 18 pN0 cases and in 4 of 18 non dissected patients. Four patients died of uncontrolled neck disease (regional control probability 76%). A severe necrosis developed in 9 patients (soft tissue in 4 and bone in 5 patients), but only 3 cases required surgery. This study confirms brachytherapy as an effective treatment modality for the early stage of oral tongue carcinoma.