Cytodiagnosis of clinically inapparent oral cancer in patients considered to be high risks—A preliminary report

Abstract

Abstract We have presented in detail pertinent data from fourteen patients found to have cancer by cytologic examination when there was no other evidence of its presence. These patients had all been previously treated for at least one lesion in the region of the head and neck and were clinically free of disease at the time of cytologic detection. These fourteen patients represent 9 per cent of the 177 patients examined. There were eleven men and three women who ranged in age from fifty to seventy-nine years. The tongue was the most common site, seven patients having eleven tumors in this region. Cytologic examination is an effective adjunct but not a substitute for routine post-therapy follow-up study. Cancer can be detected cytologically before it becomes visibly apparent, even to the skilled examiner. The experienced cytopathologist can identify the presence of cancer, and often predict with reasonable accuracy the histologic type, as well as whether the lesion is invasive or in situ.