Epidemiology of oral cavity tumors

The present study was undertaken to establish the incidence of neoplasias of the oral cavity in the area of Catania. For this purpose, the histological samples of tumors of the oral cavity examined in different centers of Pathology and Histology of the area of Catania in the period January 1990-December 1995 were analyzed. Particular attention has been given to several factors that include age, sex, anatomical site and histological type.

Eight hundred forty four tumors of the oral cavity were analyzed.

Of these 65% were benign tumors but 35% were malignant neoplasias. Benign tumors were equally distributed between sex, with only a slight preponderance in women. In contrast, malignant tumors markedly prevailed in the males with an incidence that was about three times that observed in females. Benign neoplasias were more frequent between the third and the sixth decade of life, whereas malignant tumors appeared more often between the fifth and the seventh decade. Malignant tumors were preferentially localized in the lip, but also in the tongue, whereas benign tumors predominated at the gingiva.

Finally, malignant and benign tumors differed also in their nature as the former were more frequently derived from epithelial tissue whereas the mesenchymal origin prevailed in the benign tumors.