Pathological aspects of oral lesions in Ahwaz, Iran (1994-2004)

The diagnosis of oral lesions can be more difficult than skin lesions, it either may be missed, or have no difference in color with near mucosa. The correct diagnosis is important, because treatment and prognosis either of them is different. The purpose of this study was to survey the pathological oral lesions in Ahwaz the capital city of Khozestan rpovince in South-West of Iran. This retrospective descriptive cross sectional study was done on 588 pathologic specimen, types of oral lesions, on patients referred to department of pathology, Imam Khomeini hospital in Ahwaz, since 1994 to end of 2004. The mucosal oral lesions were more common in women than men (305 cases, 54%), the most lesions were benign (461 cases), the numerous lesions were nonspecific, most of the patients were in range of 20-30 years. The most common malignant tumor was squamous cell carcinoma and the rarest malignant tumor was malignant melanoma that all of them were on lower lip. The most common site for lesions was lower lip (155 cases, %27.6). The malignant cases were more common in men than women. This study showed the benign mucosal oral lesions were more common in female, than males. The lower lip was the most common site which is similar to other reports. Squamous cell carcinoma was the commonest malignant tumor which has a correlation with other studies.