Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma with Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis: A Study in Dhaka Dental College and Hospital

An observational study of 29 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma with cervical lymph node metastasis was done among the patients attended in Dhaka Dental College and Hospital from January 2006 to December 2007. Majority of the patients (34.5%) belonged to the age group of 4049 years. 58.6% of the patients were male, while remaining 41.4% were female. 51.7% of the lesions were located in the alveolar ridge where the other common sites were buccal mucosa (27.6%) and retro molar area (13.8%). Half of the study subjects (51.7%) were habituated to betel quid chewing followed by 37.9% and 10.3% were habituated to smoking and betel quid-smoking respectively. The majority of the (SCC) cases presented as ulcers where others were exophytic and verrucous in nature. Grade I lesions was most prevalent (75.9%) in the patients. Majority of cases presented with Stage IV lesions (55.2%). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value & accuracy of Ultrasonographic technique for determining metastatic cervical lymph nodes were 93.33%, 50%, 66.7%, 87.5% and 72.4% respectively. Most of the patients are habituated with betel quid and or smoking and come in late stage of disease when treatment becomes difficult. Sonographic evaluation can improve the diagnosis of metastatic cervical lymph nodes in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Early diagnosis is expected for good outcome of the disease.