Clinicopathological profile of squamous cell carcinoma presenting in Tertiary Care Hospital, Karachi.

Objectives: Oral Squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignant tumor of the oral cavity. The study was done with the aim to determine the clinical pattern of OSCC seen in tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. The frequency of neck metastasis in different staging of squamous cell carcinoma was also recorded. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry. Period: June 2013- July 2016. Material & Methods: It included 35 males and 25 females which presented with different sites and stage of squamous cell carcinoma. Clinically patients were staged as stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV and comprised of 3, 8, 30 & 19 patients respectively. Patients presented with cancer of buccal mucosa (31 patients), retromolar region (12 patients), maxillary alveolus (8 patients), tongue (2 patients), floor of mouth (4 patients) & lip (3 patients). Right side was most common, 48 patients as compare to left side, 12 patients while lip cancers was in upper lip in all patients including commissure. Results: Total 60 patients were included in the study with the male to female ratio of 1.4:1. No significant association was seen between age and gender of the patient (p-value 0.933). Majority of patients were male involving buccal mucosa (51.67%) as the most frequently involved site followed by retromolar area (20%) and tongue (13.3%). Mean age of patients included in the study was 50.87 ± 5.53. Conclusion: Most of the cases of OSCC were seen in older patients with increased number of cases involving buccal mucosa as their primary site. Majority of the tumors were classified as stage III followed by Stage IV, Stage II and stage 1 respectively.