Clinicopathologic Profile of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (Oscc) and Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (Sncc)

Abstract

Background: Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is said to be the most common malignancy affecting the oral cavity while Squamous cell carcinoma of the Sinonasal tract (SNSCC) is less common. Changing patterns have been observed in the incidence of these lesions in recent years.
Objective:
This study aims to determine the demographics, clinical and histopathologic characteristics of Oral Squamous Cell carcinoma and Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Nigerian (African) population over a period of 7 years (2013 to 2019).
Materials and Methods:
In this retrospective study, records from the archives of the Oral Pathology laboratory, Faculty of Dentistry, Lagos State University College of Medicine over a period of 7 years (2013 to 2019) were reviewed to retrieve the age, sex, site, grade and variant (where indicated) of cases. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS (version 20).
Results:
The prevalence of OSCC in our study was 34.5% of all oral and maxillofacial malignancies, while SNSCC accounted for 5.5%. Mean age for OSCC was 56.5(SD±16.4) years, while that of SNSCC was 47.0 (SD±9.23) years. These lesions were more frequent in males (63.2% and 66.7% for OSCC and SNSCC respectively) than females. The most common site of involvement in OSCC was the tongue (28.9%). 66.7% of the SNSCC was the Keratinizing type. 55.3% of OSCC were graded as moderately differentiated.

Conclusion:
This study demonstrates that oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for a substantial proportion (34.5%) of head and neck malignancies diagnosed at our centre, confirming its significant disease burden within the oral and maxillofacial region. The tongue is the most affected oral site. Sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma (SNSCC) was still relatively rare (5.5%), occurred at a younger mean age than OSCC, and also demonstrated male predominance. Although the keratinizing subtype of SNSCC was more common, histological type was not significantly associated with sex. Overall, the findings highlight important clinicopathologic patterns of OSCC and SNSCC in our environment and provide baseline data for improved diagnosis and future research.