Clinicopathological study of lip cancer: a retrospective hospital-based study in Taiwan

To evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics, high-risk lifestyle factors (HRLF: chronic exposure to sun, betel quid, alcohol, and tobacco), and prognostic factors of lip cancer. The hospital records of patients with pathologically confirmed lip squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC, n=112) and lip basal cell carcinoma (LBCC, n=21) were reviewed. Differences in clinicopathological characteristics between LSCC and LBCC, upper and lower lip, and status of second primary tumors were compared by chi-square test and logistic regression. The prognostic factors for LSCC were analyzed by Cox regression. Compared with LBCC patients, LSCC patients were men-predominant (p<0.001), had younger ages at onset (p<0.001), and higher rates of lower lips involvement (p<0.001) and HRLFs. Patients with second primary tumors were highly associated with lower lip cancer involvement (adjusted odds ratio=2.91, p=0.03). Patients with lower lip cancer had more HRLFs with an increasing linear trend (p=0.004). The poorer prognostic factors of LSCC for disease-specific survival were advanced stage III/IV [crude hazard ratio (CHR)=11.16, p<0.001], tumor dimension>4cm (CHR=8.19, p=0.006), lymph node involvement (CHR=11.48, p<0.001), and recurrence (CHR=3.96, p=0.01); whereas for disease-free survival were moderately to poorly differentiated LSCC (CHR=4.97, p=0.002) and alcohol consumption (CHR=3.13, p=0.04). LSCC and lower lip cancer were highly associated with HRLFs.