Shilpi Gupta1 , Mridusmita Gohain2 , Jyotirmoy Phookan3 , Nabajyoti Saikia4 , Mohan Kumar Mili5
BACKGROUND Cancer is expected to rank as the leading cause of death and the single most important barrier to increasing life expectancy in every country of the world in the 21st century.1 Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Our aim in this study is to find out the incidence of head and neck cancer cases in Otorhinolaryngology Department of our tertiary care centre in Assam. METHODS This is a retrospective study conducted among 45 cases over a period of one year. All patients who were operated in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology of our tertiary care centre over a period of one year from January 1 st 2019 to 31st December 2019. RESULTS 36 were males and 9 were females. Male to female ratio was 4:1. Age ranged from 17 yrs. to 70 yrs., with a mean of 58 yrs. Maximum number of patients was in the age group 51 to 60 years (26%). Oral cavity cancer included a total of 11 cases, out of which 7 were males 4 were females. Age group of cases was distributed evenly from 30 yrs. to 60 yrs. Pre-operative diagnosis of oral cavity cancer included 5 cases of lower gingiva-buccal sulcus (GBS) squamous cell carcinoma, 3 cases of upper GBS squamous cell carcinoma, and 1 case of retromolar trigone squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS Population-based screening, early diagnosis based on awareness of early symptoms and signs and properly linked cancer registry system is needed to decrease the burden of head and neck cancer on government and medical personnel.
