[Oral cancer--nuclear acid and genomic aberrations]

Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity is the sixth most frequent cancer in the world and of the approximately 30,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the United States, 60% occur in males and over 90% of the cases occur in patients over 45 years of age. The overall 5-year survival rate for patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma is among the lowest for major cancers and has not changed during the past two decades. Assessing the risk of oral cancer prior to choosing the therapeutic strategy administered is of paramount importance. Although imperfect but generally available, assays that identify loss of heterozygosity and determine ploidy are an improvement over current ways of assessing the risk of oral cancer. Molecular probing significantly increases the sensitivity and specificity of conventional histopathology. It is now possible to detect a single cancer cell in 10,000 cells. In any case oral cancer remains a disfiguring disease associated with a high mortality rate. Abstinence from smoking and alcohol is the best approach to prevent its occurrence.