Clinicopathological Study Of Oral Cavity Mass Lesions In A Tertiary Care Centre Of North India

Background: Oral mass lesions, especially the potentially malignant and malignant lesions are a major health concern for a developing country like India. They pose a serious health and economic burden.Aims: This study was carried out to analyze the clinical profile and reaffirm the frequency of various causes causing mass lesions in oral cavity in different age-groups in a tertiary care centre of North India.Materials and Methods:All patients who had oral mass lesions and attended Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, General Surgery and the Dentistry of Hind Institute of Medical Sciences, Safedabad, Barabanki and Department of Surgery of School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida in two years (2015-2016) were included in the study.Statistical Analysis:All the analysis was carried out on SPSS 17.0 version (Chicago, Inc., USA). The results are presented in percentages. The Chi-square test was used to assess the associations between categorical variables. The p-value<0.05 was considered significant.Results:Of 126 cases with oral lesions, we found that 66 (52.4%) were benign, 12 (9.5%) were pre-malignant and 48 (38.1%) were malignant lesions. Squamous papilloma was the most common benign lesion followed by fibroepithelial hyperplasia. The premalignant lesions observed in our study in the decreasing order of frequency were leukoplakia, lichen planus and submucous fibrosis. The malignant lesions comprised of squamous cell carcinoma and verrucous carcinoma. Conclusion:In our study it was found that though the benign oral lesions are commoner that malignant but still these form significant numbers. Hence the origin and the nature of oral cavity lesion should not be decided on clinical assessment alone but should also take into account the histopathological evaluation of the lesion also.