Trends in incidence and age distribution of oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, kingston and st andrew, Jamaica, 1978-2007

A Study on Demographic Profile of Patients and Correlation Between Clinical and Radiological Findings in Oral and Oropharyngeal Malignancies

Oral and Oropharyngeal cancers are on rise year after year and Head and Neck Cancer rank sixth among all cancers worldwide. This study is an institutional based retrospective type of study conducted in a tertiary care hospital for a period of 6 months with an aim to identify the demographic profile of the patients and to correlate between the clinical and radiological findings of the disease using Cohen's Kappa value. Both oral and oropharyngeal cancer was predominant in male population with commonest age being the 5th decade of life. Tongue was the most common site for oral cancer, on the other hand, base of tongue was commonest among oropharyngeal cancer. The disease extension was thoroughly examined clinically by palpation and 70 degree Hopkins Endoscope and also radiologically using appropriate imaging tools. The clinical and radiological T showed moderate degree of agreement for both oral and oropharyngeal cancers whereas clinical and radiological N showed a almost perfect degree of agreement.

A multi-centre evaluation of oral cancer in Southern and Western Nigeria: an African oral pathology research consortium initiative

INTRODUCTION

Oral cancer is a leading cause of cancer deaths among African populations. Lack of standard cancer registries and under-reporting has inaccurately depicted its magnitude in Nigeria. Development of multi-centre collaborative oral pathology networks such as the African Oral Pathology Research Consortium (AOPRC) facilitates skill and expertise exchange and fosters a robust and systematic investigation of oral diseases across Africa.

METHODS

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we have leveraged the auspices of the AOPRC to examine the burden of oral cancer in Nigeria, using a multi-centre approach. Data from 4 major tertiary health institutions in Western and Southern Nigeria was generated using a standardized data extraction format and analysed using the SPSS data analysis software (version 20.0; SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL).

RESULTS

Of the 162 cases examined across the 4 centres, we observed that oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) occurred mostly in the 6th and 7th decades of life and maxillary were more frequent than mandibular OSCC lesions. Regional variations were observed both for location, age group and gender distribution. Significant regional differences was found between poorly, moderately and well differentiated OSCC (p value = 0.0071).

CONCLUSION

A multi-centre collaborative oral pathology research approach is an effective way to achieve better insight into the patterns and distribution of various oral diseases in men of African descent. The wider outlook for AOPRC is to employ similar approaches to drive intensive oral pathology research targeted at addressing the current morbidity and mortality of various oral diseases across Africa.