A Retrospective Analysis Of Oral Mucosa Pathologies: A Single-Center Trial

Aim: Oral cancer is the sixth most common cancer worldwide however a wide range of diseases may affect the oral mucosa. We aim to determine the prevalence of the oral mucosal pathologies in our patient series and discuss the final diagnosis in relation to sex, age and subsite distribution. Patients and Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive study, including 288 patients with oral mucosal pathologies, diagnosed at Baskent University Konya Hospital between January 2002 and December 2014. Data were retrieved from archives of pathology laboratory, retrospectively. A commercially available statistical package (SPSS17.0) was used for descriptive statistical analysis. Results: The results showed that benign epithelial proliferations and reactive pathologies were the most frequently diagnosed lesion, accounting for 22.7% of the total number of patients. Among this reactive pathologies, squamous papillomas were the most common (n: 31; 9,9%), followed by fibroepithelial polyps (n:24;7,7%) and irritation fibromas (n:16; 5,1%). Oral mucosal dermatoses were the second common benign lesions, accounting for 21,8% (n:63) of all cases. Of the 288 oral mucosal pathologies 15,3% (n:44) were malignant and 17,7% (n:51) were precancerous. Squamous cell carcinoma were comprised of 95,5% of all the malignant lesions. Premalignant lesions were with the following distribution: squamous cell hyperplasia (n:47; 16% ), moderate dysplasia (n:2; 0,7% ) and lichenoid dysplasia (n:2; 0,7% ). Lip was the most frequently involved site for squamous cell carcinoma. The male to female ratio was almost equal in both sex for premalignant lesions however there was slight male predominance for squamous cell carcinoma (p>0.1). Squamous cell carcinoma was commonly seen in the older age group compared to benign and precancerous lesions. Conclusion: The similar clinical appearance of oral mucosal pathologies in a very wide spectrum is a compelling element for clinicians in the process of diagnosis. Especially in malignant lesions early diagnosis may be life saving. Therefore, it is important to reveal our own series about these pathologies. This study, by demonstrating distribution of histopathologically classified lesions according to some clinical features such as location, age and gender, will guide and facilitate the clinical diagnosis.