Oral squamous cell carcinoma metastasizing to the skull bone: a case report and literature review

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is considered a primarily localized disease, and distant metastasis is not common. An increasing number of case reports involving unusual sites for distant metastasis from oral carcinoma have been reported in the literature. This is likely due to the improved control of cancer at the primary site, increasing the chance of developing a delayed metastasis. This article presents a case of a 58-year-old woman who refused surgical treatment for a very aggressive SCC on the mandibular alveolar ridge. The tumor did not respond to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and the patient developed metastasis in the skull bone approximately 1 year after the initial diagnosis. The site of the primary tumor (next to the bone) as well as the patient's refusal of the proposed treatment, may have led to the hematological spread of the malignant cells, resulting in the distant metastasis.