Squamous cell carcinoma of tongue and buccal mucosa: clinico-pathologically different entities.
The objective of this study was to examine the clinical and pathological features of squamous cell carcinoma of the Tongue and Buccal Mucosa and understand their differences. This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of 735 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and 665 cases of carcinoma of the buccal mucosa treated by surgery at our hospital. Statistical analysis was done to examine clinical and pathological differences between carcinoma of the tongue and the buccal mucosa with regards to age, gender, clinical T stage/N stage, pathological T stage/N stage, overall stage, grade, thickness, perinodal extension (PNE), lymphovascular emboli (LVE) and perineural invasion (PNI). Statistically significant differences were found for factors like age (p < 0.001), gender (p < 0.001), clinical T staging (p < 0.001) and pathological stage (p < 0.001), grade of tumor (p < 0.001) and perineural invasion (p < 0.001) between carcinoma of the tongue and the buccal mucosa. Forty-eight percent patients in either subsite had pathologically proven node negative necks (pN0, p = 0.88). Multivariate analysis for occult nodal metastases revealed that predictive factors were different for the two subsites. There are significant differences between cancers of the tongue and buccal mucosa for various clinical and pathological factors. This may be a reflection of the underlying differences in their causation and pathophysiology. Squamous cell carcinoma in these two subsites should therefore be regarded as clinico-pathologically distinct entities.
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Sudhir
S
Nair
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India. drsinghbj@gmail.com.|Department of Surgical Oncology, Government Medical College, Amritsar, India. drsinghbj@gmail.com.
Bikramjit
B
Singh
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.|Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Prashant V
PV
Pawar
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Sourav
S
Datta
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Deepa
D
Nair
Department of Pathology, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Shubhada
S
Kane
Head and Neck Services, Tata Hospital, Mumbai, India.
Pankaj
P
Chaturvedi
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
Carcinoma buccal mucosa; Carcinoma tongue; Occult nodal metastases