Study of Malignant Lesions of Oral Cavity and Oropharynx in North East Region of India

Abstract

Introduction: In India, oral cancer represents a major health problem and most of the malignancies arising from the various sub sites of the oral cavity are squamous cell carcinomas. Squamous cell carcinoma occurs mostly in men and is associated with tobacco and alcohol consumption. Certain regions of North East India have the higher cancer incidence rate compared to that of the rest of the country. Aim: To study diagnosis and staging of malignant lesions of oral cavity and oropharynx with imaging facilities in a tertiary care hospital in North East India. Materials and Methods: The sample size consisted of 47 patients with biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity and oropharyx. All the patients were subjected to clinical evaluation and MR scan. Total 20 patients suspected clinically of having mandibular invasion and were reviewed with both CT and MR scan. Results: Most common primary site of cancer was buccal mucosa. MRI is more accurate to clinical evaluation for higher tumour stages (T3/T4). The accuracy of CT in the detection of mandibular cortical involvement was 95%. Conclusion: Imaging along with dynamic maneuver should be made mandatory for evaluation of carcinoma oral cavity and oropharynx. Overestimation of T stage can be seen with MRI because of inadequate distinctions between tumour and edema, and inflammation and normal mucous membrane. Clinical examination, on the other hand, often underestimates the T stage.

Keywords

• imaging
• oral cancer
• squamous cell carcinoma