title: Relative Frequency of Oral Malignancies and Oral Precancer in the Biopsy Service of Jazan Province, 2009-2014.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of this study was to report the types and relative frequency of oral malignancies and precancer in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia during the period 2009-2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pathology reports were retrieved from the archives of Histopathology Department, King Fahd hospital in Jazan. Demographic data on tobacco habits, clinical presentation and histologic grading of oral precancer and cancer cases were transcribed from the files.
  
  
  RESULTS
  303 (42.7%) oral pre-malignant and malignant cases were found out of 714 oral biopsy lesions. A pathology diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (85.1%) was most frequent, followed by premalignant lesions/epithelial dysplasia (8.6%), verrucous carcinoma (3.3%) and malignancy of other histological types (3%) such as ameloblastic carcinoma, salivary gland malignancy and sarcomas. Oral squamous cell carcinoma was predominant in females with a male to female ratio of 1:1.9. Patient age ranged from 22 to 100 years with a mean of 65±13.9. Almost 44.6% of oral cancer had occurred after 65 years of age. Only 16.3% cases were reported in patients younger than 50 years, predominantly females. The majority of female patients had the habit of using shammah with a long duration of usage for more than 45 years. Bucco- alveolar mucosa (52.3%) was the common site of involvement followed by tongue/ floor of the mouth (47.7%) and clinically presented mostly as ulceration/swelling clinically. Moderately differentiated tumours (53.9%) were common followed by well differentiated (32.2%) and poorly differentiated tumours (5.8%). The prevalence of oral verrucous carcinoma (3.3%) was comparatively low with an equal distribution in both males and females. Both bucco-alveolar mucosa and tongue were predominantly affected. Oral precancer/epithelial dysplasia (8.6%) was common in females with a shammah habit. Bucco-alveolar mucosa was commonly involved and clinically presented mostly as white/red patches. Most cases were mild followed by moderate and severe dysplasia. Tumours of other histological types (3%) include 1 ameloblastic carcinoma, 3 malignant salivary gland tumours and 5 sarcomas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, it was found that oral cancers reported in the pathology service to be a common occurrence. This study reconfirms previous reports of the high burden of oral cancer in this population This indicates that conventional preventive programs focused on oral cancer are in need of revision. In addition, further research into identifying new risk factors and molecular markers for oral cancer are needed for screening high risk individuals.
authors.affiliation: College of Dentistry, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia E-mail : amidris53@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Am
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Idris
authors.forename: Nv
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vani
authors.forename: Sanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tubaigy
authors.forename: Fahd
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alharbi
authors.forename: Abubkr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharwani
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tadrus
authors.forename: Saman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Warnakulasuriya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018289:Carcinoma, Verrucous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult