Características clínicas, epidemiológicas y terapéuticas de pacientes con carcinoma epidermoide de cavidad bucal

Introduction: Head and neck region is one of the more complex areas of the body and the squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent malignant neoplasm in this location. Objective: To characterize, from a clinic, epidemiologic and therapeutic point of view, patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. Methods: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study with patients treated in maxillofacial surgery service between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2020. Clinic, epidemiologic and therapeutic variables were analyzed. The information was obtained through interview and clinical examination. Absolute frequencies and percentages were used as summary measures. Results: Twenty-nine (29) patients, with a predominance of males (69.0 %), were studied. Mean age was 12 years (range between 41 and 80 years). The tongue was the most affected anatomical region (34.5 %) and the sunken or infiltrating ulcer was the most common clinical variant (27.6 %); 48.3 % of the neoplasms were differentiated histologically. 65.5 % of the diagnoses were made in advanced stages of the disease (stages III and IV). The most used treatments were surgery (31.0 %) and the combination of chemotherapy plus radiotherapy (27.6 %). Conclusion: Male patients, lingual lesions, ulcerated appearance and histologically differentiated predominated. The most used therapeutic modality was surgery.