Open AccessField Cancerization in Oral Cavity: A review
Author(s) -
Adel Bouguezz,
Sameh Sioud,
Hajer Hentati
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of clinical case studies reviews and reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2634-680X
DOI - 10.47363/jccsr/2020(2)127
Subject(s) - field cancerization , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , pathology , biology , basal cell , cancer research , head and neck cancer , medicine , cancer , genetics
Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) often develop multiple (pre) malignant lesions. This finding led to the field of the cancerization theory, which hypothesizes that the entire epithelial surface of the upper aerodigestive tract has an increased risk for the development of (pre) malignant lesions, because of multiple genetic abnormalities in the whole tissue region. Demonstration of alterations in histologically normal tumor-adjacent mucosa from HNSCC patients supported this hypothesis. Currently, the question has been raised whether multiple lesions develop independently from each other or from migrated malignant or progenitor cells. Moreover, almost all primary remote tumors from HNSCC patients appear to be clonally unrelated. Therefore, there is more evidence that field cancerization is due to multiple independent events than to migration of genetically altered cells.