Review Article Open Access

The Analysis of Oral Cancer on Pubmed from 2012 to 2016

Abstract

Background and objective: Oral cancer has become a global threat of human health. There were various of epidemiological reports all around the world. With the increase of oral cancer epidemiology in recent years, we aim to study the prevalence of oral cancer by searching literatures in last 5 years to observe if there were changes of anatomical sites, gender, age and histopathology and treatment. Methods: We conduct a systemic review on the prevalence of oral cancer around five continents from January 2012 to December 2016. 1. According to the requisition of systematic evaluation, we formulated detailed standardization of the inclusion and exclusion criteria which include the pathological type of cancer and the time of publication. 2. We searched literatures in Pubmed databases from January 2012 to December 2016. The following search terms were used: Mouth neoplasm or Oral neoplasm or mouth cancer or oral cancer and epidemiology. Results: A total of 4,310 literatures were reported worldwide during the period of study by selecting through the Pubmed search engines. After exclusion of duplicate or irrelevant references, 4,283 were excluded. 27 full articles were assessed, which include 231,688 oral cancer patients from 18 countries and regions. 1. In a total of 231,688 patients, there was a higher incidence of cancer in the tongue with 112,643 cases (48.6%), followed by the lip 35,185 (15.2%), buccal mucosa 25,817 cases (11.1%), palate 12,942 cases (5.6%), gingiva 10,239 cases (4.4%), floor of mouth 9,924 cases (4.3%), and 24,938 cases (10.8%) in the mixed sites and NOS (not otherwise specified). 2. In this study, the tongue was the most frequent anatomical site in Asia, Europe, North America and South America, while the lip was the most common site in Oceania. 3. Geographically, North America (44.4%) was where majority of the oral cancer came from. Followed by the Oceania (20.2%), Europe (17.5%), Asia (15.2%) and the least number of patients in South America (2.7%). 4. A total of 77,228 patients have the gender information, among which 54,061 (70%) were men and 23,167 (30%) were women. The male-to-female ratio was 2.3:1. Differences were noticed when divided by subsite: the floor of mouth (3.2:1), the tongue (2.2:1), the buccal mucosa (1.8:1), the palate (1.5:1), the gingiva (1.3:1) and the mixed sites and NOS (1.6:1). A total of 130,534 patients were reported from Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America and South America. Slightly more males than females were affected by oral cancer. The highest male-to-female ratio was Asia at 4.8:1, followed by the Oceania at 2.4:1, the Europe at 1.9:1, the South America at 1.8:1 and the North America at 1.6:1. 5. There were 10,813 patients who have the age information, 9,822 (90.8%) were older than 40 years and 991 (9.2%) were younger than 40. 6. Histopathologic type was as follows: 53,908 cases (95.7%) of squamous cell carcinoma, 2,431 cases (4.3%) of non-squamous cell carcinoma. 7. There was only 1 article concluded 6830 oral cancer patients with treatment details and survival in total of 27 full articles. This study indicated that surgery was effective for 6830 patients diagnosed as stage I or II oral cancer. Full survival rate of 5 years of 6830 patients treated with surgery was 69.7%. 5-year survival rates of 3298 patients treated with neck dissection (71.7%) were higher than 3448 patients without neck dissection (68.0%), P=0.001. However, 5-year survival rates of 1231 patients treated with radiation therapy (57.5%) were lower than 5468 patients without radiation therapy (72.7%), P<0.001 and 187 patients with chemotherapy (53.5%) were lower than 6490 patients without chemotherapy (69.0%), P<0.001. Conclusion: 1. Coordinate with the earlier knowledge, this current review suggested that the tongue was the site with the highest risk for oral cancer from a global perspective also on a regional level in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. However, the lip was the most common site for oral cancer in Oceania. 2. North America has the most oral cancer patients according to the investigation. We are not sure at this time point if it was because a high incident rate of the disease in this region or it may be due to the amount of effort researchers put in. 3. Males are more susceptible to oral cancer. 4. Majority of the patients is with an age over 40. 5. The most common oral cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. 6. Surgery is an effective treatment for early oral cancer

Xinjia Cai and Junhui Huang

To read the full article Download Full Article | Visit Full Article