The Outline of Prognosis and New Advances in Diagnosis of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC): Review of the Literature

Objective. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has a remarkable incidence over the world and a fairly strenuous prognosis, encouraging further research on the prognostic factors and new techniques for diagnosis that might modify disease outcome. Data Sources. A web-based search for all types of articles published was initiated using Medline/Pub Med, with the key words such as oral cancer, prognostic factors of oral cancer, diagnostic method of oral cancer, and imaging techniques for diagnosis of oral cancer. The search was restricted to articles published in English, with no publication date restriction (last update April, 2013). Review Methods. In this paper, I approach the factors of prognosis of OSCC and the new advances in diagnostic technologies as well. I also reviewed available studies of the tissue fluorescence spectroscopy and other noninvasive diagnostic aids for OSCC. Results. The outcome is greatly influenced by the stage of the disease (especially TNM). Prognosis also depends or varies with tumour primary site, nodal involvement, tumour thickness, and the status of the surgical margins. Conclusion. Tumour diameter is not the most accurate when compared to tumour thickness or depth of invasion, which can be related directly to prognosis. There is a wide agreement on using ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsies in the evaluation of lymph node metastasis.