Delay in the diagnosis and treatment of oral cancer

Oral and pharyngeal cancer is one of the most mortal cancers; however, its quick diagnosis and referral is a crucial factor in enhancing the survival rate of the patients.

The aim of this study was to inspect the referral conditions and the reasons for the delay in curing the patients referred to the educational hospitals in Tehran.

In this retrospective -descriptive study, two hundred and fifty six files related to the oral and pharyngeal cancer were inspected. The documents were obtained from 5 educational hospitals specialized in the field of cancers. Eventually data related to the time difference between the first time of attending to lesion and diagnosing the cancer as patient's delay and until the curing as professional's delay were recorded.

The majority of cancers were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The patient's delay was recorded in 110 files among the whole files. The mean of the time between the patients' first notice of the problem and the time visiting a primary care clinician was 270 days (range, 0-2520 days). The mean of the time from when the patient visited a primary- care clinician to the starting time of definitive treatment was 90 days (range, 0-270 days).

In this study, like other studies, SCC was the most common occurring cancer. Delays related to the patients were more than those related to the professionals. And at last, accuracy in recording the files and training the patients were recognized to be the most imperative factors to continue the treatment successfully.