Oral cancer at a Tasmanian tertiary referral clinic, The Royal Hobart Hospital 1996–2002

Abstract

Background:The Holman Clinic at the Royal Hobart Hospital includes a multi-disciplinary head and neck clinic which functions as a tertiary referral centre for Southern Tasmania and involves Ear Nose and Throat surgeons, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Radiation Oncologists and Medical Oncologists. Methods: The aim of this study was to examine retrospectively the number, gender distribution, age, site of lesion, histology, mortality and treatment modalities of the oral cancers referred to the Holman clinic at the Royal Hobart Hospital. The medical histories and a database of the Holman clinic were used as the sources of data for this study. A total of 101 patients were treated for oral cancer in the Holman clinic at the Royal Hobart Hospital from 1996 to 2002. There were 64 males and 37 females. Results: The distribution of anatomical sites of the oral cancers in this study was as follows: 36 oral tongue lesions, 17 floor of mouth, 13 lip, five retromolar trigone, five mandibular alveolus, six buccal mucosa, nine palatal and 10 minor and major salivary gland cancers. The most common site of oral cancer was the tongue (35.6 per cent), followed by the floor of mouth (16.8 per cent) and lip (12.9 per cent). Conclusions:The majority of oral cancers were squamous cell carcinoma, except for the salivary gland cancers. The incidence of squamous cell carcinoma was between 67 and 100 per cent, depending upon the site involved. The trends found in this study are similar to those previously documented over the past 20 years.

Epidemiological study of malignant tumors in the oral and maxillofacial region: survey of member institutions of the Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, 2002

“…However, this ratio varies widely; Iamaroon et al 6 reported it to be 1.3 : 1, and Rawashdeh et al, 7 Ravi et al, 10 and Hogan et al 8 reported ratios of 1.77 : 1, 3.27 : 1, and 1.73 : 1, respectively. Shimizu 17 compared survey results for the period from 1930 to 1960 with those of the 1986 National Survey and noted that the ratio of males tended to be higher in the latter survey.…”

“…1,5,7,8,16,24,25 In the present survey, squamous cell carcinoma was the major type, at 90.3%. For other types of cancer, salivary gland tumors originating in the minor salivary gland were frequently observed, though the incidence of salivary gland tumors was low in comparison to that in other reports.…”

“…15 In the present survey, no investigation was made regarding habits such as smoking and drinking, though these factors should be examined in a future survey. Tarvainen et al 4 reported that age at the fi rst consultation was slightly higher in patients with lip cancer than in those with cancer at other sites of the oral cavity, while Hogan et al 8 found that age was higher, in the descending order, for cancer of the buccal mucosa, lip, and gingiva. Further, Howell et al 16 noted that the proportion of patients aged 70 years or older was highest for cancer of the gingiva, followed by lip cancer.…”

“…Some reports have noted the tongue 6,8,10 as the primary site, while others note the lip 4,16 and buccal mucosa. 9,20 Tarvainen et al 4 reported that the incidence of lip cancer in males had declined recently, and cited decreases in the smoking rate and in the number of outdoor workers as contributing factors.…”

A four‐year retrospective study of adult hospitalization for oral diseases in Western Australia

“…11,12 The highest separation rates were noted amongst older people (60-65 years), and reasons for this might include the prevalence of conditions such as malignant neoplasms being higher in older ages. 13 Indigenous people were hospitalized more, at a younger age, and stayed longer in hospital than non-Indigenous people. This corresponds with national hospital separation statistics for 1999-2000 which indicated that Indigenous persons were hospitalized at twice the rate of nonIndigenous persons and stayed longer in hospital.…”