Head and Neck Malignancy in Young Females - Our Experience

Abstract

Head and neck cancer is more common in males and is a disease of older age group. Yet it may occur in young female patients, a rare and different group of patients. India has the world's highest incidence of head and neck neoplasms in women. Here we share our experience of head and neck malignancy in young females forming baseline data and stimulating further study on possible ways of prevention. KEYWORDS: Head-neck carcinoma, young female patients, SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma) INTRODUCTION:Head and neck cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and is the most common neoplasm in central Asia. 1 Male to female ratio of head and neck malignancy varies between 2: 1 to 4: 1.2 In India head and neck cancer is accounting for 23% of total cancer incidence among male and 6% among female. 2 Even though the world's highest reported incidence of head and neck neoplasm in women is in India 3 , majority of head neck cancer are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Among the non-SCC histology there are adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma from major or minor salivary gland, Kaposi Sarcoma, and other histological entities.In a study by Funk et al 4 approximately 48% of oral cavity cancers in patients younger than 35 years were SCC, versus 88% in patients 36-65 years and 91% of patients older than 65 years. Tobacco and alcohol are the major risk factor for head and cancer, but different studies have found a variable and sometimes absent relationship with these traditional risk factors in young patients and in female [5][6][7][8] . These traditional risk factors are also less important in cases of non-SCC of the head and neck.