Oral metastasis: a report of 23 cases

The authors describe a pooled analysis of 23 French patients presenting with oral metastasis between 1981 and 2008. The reviewed cases were collected from the medical records of two cancer institutes. The inclusion criteria were: the histology of the metastases must be known; the primary location must be known; metastasis and primary location must be physically separated; and oral primary locations were excluded. This sample represent 0.48% of all oral malignancies treated during the period. The sex-ratio was 2.3:1 in favour of men, the mean age was 64.5 years (±13.2). Lungs and kidneys represent 52.2% of the primary cancer locations. In most cases, the primary cancer was a carcinoma or an adenocarcinoma (82.6%). The most affected oral regions were the gingiva and alveolar mucosa (60.7%), followed by the tongue (17.9%). The mean survival was 16.6 months. This sample is characterized by the relative absence of specific symptoms and quite different distribution in primary sites. Even if oral metastases are rare, their semiological value necessitates the histopathological examination of any oral tumour, and a systematic search in all patients with cancer history.