Proliferative activity and diagnostic delay in oral cancer.
BACKGROUND
Tumor stage may relate to the chronology of neoplasm growth and has been used as an outcome variable when studying diagnostic delay in oral cancer. However, tumor growth rate may act as a confounding factor.


METHODS
We reviewed a total of 63 incident cases of oral cancer. The variables considered for the study included age, sex, smoking history, tumor site, TNM stage, Ki-67 score, and diagnostic delay.


RESULTS
Significant differences between survivors and exitus were found in terms of tumor stage at diagnosis (I-II vs III-IV), sex, and Ki-67 scores. When the analysis was adjusted for tumor stage at diagnosis (I-II vs III-IV), proliferative activity resulted to be an independent prognostic factor for survival, whereas diagnostic delay did not influence survival.


CONCLUSIONS
These results seem to suggest that survival from oral cancer is affected more by the biology of the cancer (rapid tumor growth) than by diagnostic delay.
Seoane
Juan
J
Stomatology Department, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Santiago de Compostela, C/Entrerríos s/n 15782, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain.
Pita-Fernández
Salvador
S
Gómez
Iria
I
Vazquez
Inés
I
López-Cedrún
José Luis
JL
De Agustin
Domingo
D
Varela-Centelles
Pablo
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D019394:Ki-67 Antigen