Background

OSCC (oral squamous cell carcinoma) constitutes 90% of oral malignancies. It has a multifactorial etiology, however, many cases remain idiopathic. We aimed to  assess the impact of sociodemographic, clinicopathological, histopathological and therapeutic parameters on the survival time and final outcome of Saudi OSCC patients.

Methods

Analytical observational study comprising 145 OSCC patients treated at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) from 2005 to 2014. Chi square test, kaplan-meier survival analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed.

Results

Chi-square revealed statistically significant association of final outcome with gender, age,  tumor size (T), T4 tumor, lymph node status (N), pre-treatment hemoglobin, and cause of death. Logistic regression analysis revealed that death increased with increase in pre-treatment anemia, T2 tumor and N2 status. Survival analysis showed a statistically significant relationship of survival time with tumor size, T4 tumor, N status, treatment complications and recurrence.

Conclusion

In OSCC patients, death, as a final outcome, exponentially increased with increase in pre-treatment anemia, tumor size and N status. Lack of association with histological grading vindicates the global need for a better grading system.

KEYWORDS

mouth neoplasms; survival; hemoglobins; oropharyngeal neoplasms; saudi arabia