Histopathological Study of Malignant Oral Tumours: A Five-Year Study

Introduction: Oral tumors are one of the most challenging tumors regarding their good prognosis if diagnosed early and very difficult to control in advancing stages. Objectives: To study the prevalence, histopathological types and clinical presentation of various malignant oral tumors and their precursor lesions. Materials and Methods: This study includes the analysis of oral tumors received in the histopathology section of Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Miraj, Maharashtra, over a period of 5-year that is from August 2008 to June 2013. Data - such as age, sex, site of lesion, clinical presentation, histopathological type of tumor, and personal habits such as tobacco chewing, and smoking - were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 642 cases were analyzed during the study period. Malignant lesions were the most common oral lesions accounting to about 51.40%. The most common site was buccal mucosa 49.39%, followed by tongue 20.60%. Males were more commonly affected than females 70.9%. Out of 330 cases, 92.74% were conventional squamous cell carcinoma; other malignant lesions noted in our study were verrucous carcinoma 4.55%, spindle cell carcinoma 0.60%, papillary carcinoma 0.60%, basaloid carcinoma 1.21%, and one case of metastatic adenocarcinoma 0.30%. Tobacco chewing was the most common associated risk factor among all cases 82.89%. Mild dysplasia was the most common epithelial precursor lesion 53.34%. Conclusion: Histopathological examination of all oral lesions is necessary for confirmation and early diagnosis in oral malignancy as it has a major influence on the prognosis in such cases.