Impact on patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma in different anatomical subsites: a single-center study in Taiwan

Nan-Chin Lin,Jui-Ting Hsu,Su-I Hsien,Michael Y C Chen

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-95007-5

Abstract

The incidence of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is particularly high in South Asia. According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, OSCC can arise in several subsites. We investigated survival rates and the clinical and pathological characteristics of OSCC in different anatomical subsites in the Taiwanese population. We retrospectively analyzed data for 3010 patients with OSCC treated at the Changhua Christian Hospital. Subsequently, we compared clinical and pathological features of OSCC in different subsites. Pathological T4 stage OSCCs occurred in the alveolar ridge and retromolar trigone in 56.4% and 43.7% of cases, respectively. More than 25% of patients with tongue OSCC and 23.4% of those with retromolar OSCC had lymph node metastasis. The prognosis was worst for hard palate OSCC (hazard ratio 1.848; p < 0.001) and alveolar ridge OSCC (hazard ratio 1.220; p = 0.017). Retromolar OSCC recurred most often and tongue OSCC second most often. The risk for cancer-related mortality was highest for hard palate OSCC, followed by alveolar ridge and retromolar OSCC. We found distinct differences in survival among the different subsites of OSCC. Our findings may also help prompt future investigations of OSCC in different subsites in Taiwanese patients.

Highlights

According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) can arise in several subsites
The age at diagnosis of the tumors mainly ranged from 51 to 60 years (35.4%) and from 41 to 50 years (22.5%), respectively and the same trend could be seen in the OSCCs occurred in the buccal mucosa, tongue, floor of the mouth, and retromolar trigone (p < 0.001)
From the perspective of mortality, Farhood et al reviewed data for 20,647 patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) 9 database and reported that OSCC was most commonly diagnosed in the floor of the mouth (FOM) and the t ongue[19]

Summary

Introduction

According to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, OSCC can arise in several subsites. We investigated survival rates and the clinical and pathological characteristics of OSCC in different anatomical subsites in the Taiwanese population. More than 25% of patients with tongue OSCC and 23.4% of those with retromolar OSCC had lymph node metastasis. The risk for cancer-related mortality was highest for hard palate OSCC, followed by alveolar ridge and retromolar OSCC. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) classifies the anatomic subsites of OSCC as the buccal mucosa, alveolar ridge, tongue, hard palate, retromolar trigone, floor of the mouth (FOM), and mucosa of the lips[10,11]. The NCCN guidelines document several risk factors for predicting poor survival: extranodal extension, neck lymph node metastasis, depth of tumor invasion, and histological g rade[13,14,15]

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