Oral Malignancies: Etiology, Distribution, and Treatment Considerations

Abstract

Oral cavity cancer represents 30% of all head and neck cancers, with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) comprising 90% of all oral malignancies. The remaining 10% consists of adenocarcinoma arising from minor salivary glands followed by rare malignancies including sarcoma, melanoma, extranodal lymphoma, and odontogenic malignancies [1]. Distant metastases to the oral cavity are rare. The World Health Organization reports an incidence of 6 new oral cavity cancers per 100,000 Americans with a male-to-female ratio of 2.2:1. In North America, this represents approximately 1.4% of all new malignancies and 0.6% of all cancer-related mortality. Based on the most recent SEER database, the overall 5-year survival for oral cavity cancer was 62.2% from 2003 to 2009 compared to 53% from 1975 to 1979. The average age of diagnosis is 60 years, and the vast majority of patients (>95%) are older than 40 (http://seer.cancer.gov). While the prevalence of oral cavity cancer is lower than that of other malignancies, the functional devastation and poor survival for patients afflicted with this disease continues to challenge clinicians worldwide.