Head and neck metastatic tumors: a retrospective survey of Iranian patients

The head and neck region is an uncommon site for metastatic involvement, but it can be the first and only symptom of primary cancer. The incidence of these tumors and their primary origins are limited in Iranian patients.

Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to investigate the frequency and the common related clinical manifestations, as well as, the most common types of cancers and the prevalent sites of the primary tumor.

All medical records related to patients with history of head and neck tumors between 1991 and 2011 at Iran Cancer Institute were evaluated and the essential information was statistically analyzed.

Sixty cases of cervical lymph node metastasis (0.36%) and 26 cases of head and neck metastatic tumors (0.16%) including 17 cases of distant cancer (0.10%) were recorded among all 16232 registered cancers. Out of all distant head and neck metastatic tumors, 4 cases were related to oral and maxillofacial area. Pain, swelling of neck, oral mucosa ulcer and dryness were the chief complaints. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma were the most frequent types of cancers. The most common metastatic sites were cervical musculature, scalp and parotid gland, and the most prevalent sites of primary tumor in females were breast and lung in males.

According to these cases, the incidence rate of head and neck metastatic tumors seems to be low. However, feasible similarity of clinical presentation of oral metastatic lesions to benign lesions might result in misdiagnosis. Hence, biopsy is mandatory in any case with unusual clinical presentation, especially in patients with a known malignant disease.