An evaluation on diagnosis and management patterns of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma referred to the Cancer Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences during 2010-2021

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity with multiple complications associated with the disease and its treatments and a high mortality rate. In the present study we aimed to assess the diagnosis and management of these patients referring to Imam Khomeini Hospital during 2010-2021, their survival rate and possible factors affecting mortality of the patients.

In this retrospective descriptive-analytic study, patients diagnosed with oral SCC referring to Imam Khomeini Hospital during 2010-2021 were included. Required data were gathered from the patients’ records and analyzed by SPSS software last version and Microsoft Excel using the Log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier survival curves.

In the specified period 146 patients with oral SCC were admitted to Imam Khomeini Hospital with a mean age of 63.4±18.1 years and a slightly higher prevalence of men. Most patients had an educational level of lower than diploma (60.2%), were living in urban areas (78.6%), were treated by a general dentist or a general practitioner (86.8%), primarily underwent surgery (78.8%) and their treatment followed the standard management for these patients (86.3%). 69.2% of the patients stayed alive until the studied period and the buccal mucosa was the most commonly involved location (51.7%). The mean survival of the patients was calculated to be 3384.3 days which was found to be affected by the educational level and compatibility of their treatment with standard guidelines.

The mean survival of the subjects was 9.3 years. The survival of the patients decreased from 100% to 0.4% after the 12 years period which is promising. These results indicate the effectiveness of following standard treatment protocols and early diagnosis of the patients in early stages of the disease.