Oral cancer
The object of this paper is to review the factors which are thought to be responsible for the bad prognosis of mouth cancer, to recognize specific factors that are likely to be contributing to this condition.
Abstract
THE number of new registrations of oral cancer each year is approximately 2,500, or 2 per cent of all neoplasms, and the number of deaths 1,200. If these figures are compared with the statistics of the common fatal illnesses, including carcinoma of the bronchus, one might be forgiven for dismissing oral cancer as a minor epidcmiological problem. However, those who are familiar with the natural history of the disease and the misery experienced by its sufferers would be the first to support investigation into its aetiology with a view to reducing the incidence still further. The ratio between the number of new registrations and deaths in a given year has for some time now been constant, and represents a crude yardstick of the lethality of the disease. The ratio of registrations to deaths varies from site to site within the mouth, being lowest for the lip, which undoubtedly has an excellent prognosis, and highest for cancer of the tongue. In the last two decades male deaths from cancer of the mouth have decreased, but this reduction in mortality is probably due to a drop in the incidence of the disease rather than improved results of treatment. In females, registrations and deaths have remained constant and the ratio of the two has remained unchanged, supporting the concensus that the prognosis shows no signs of improving. It is probable that the drop in new registrations for males in the last four decades is responsible for the altered sex ratio from 10:1 in the thirties to the present ratio of 2:1. This is thought by some to be due to the diminished number of pipe and cigar smokers. The object of this paper is to review the factors which are thought to be responsible for the bad prognosis of mouth cancer, to recognize specific