Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Following malaria and viral pneumonia, the cancer in Sudan was the third leading cause of death in 2000. Controversial conclusions have been reported regarding the frequency of oral cancer in Sudan. Therefore, updated information of the frequency of oral cancer and patterns is needed continuously. Design: Descriptive cross sectional multicenter hospital-based epidemiological study. The data were gathered from the major histopathology labs and RICK in Khartoum state between 2009 and 2106. Data were collected from the records included name, age, gender, year, type of cancer, and site of cancer. Objectives: To determine the relative frequency of oral cancer among total body cancers. To identify the most common types of oral cancers, and to investigate the distribution of oral cancer in relation to age, gender, year, and site. Results: The total body cancers were 55571 cases, out of these there were 1857 oral cancers accounting for 3.34% of all cancers. Oral cancer was the seventh in males and the eighth in females. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type accounting for 73.3%, followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma 4.8%, adenoid cystic carcinoma 4%, osteosarcoma 2.4%, and verrucous carcinoma 2.4%. Male to female distribution was 1.45:1. The most common site affected by oral cancer was the overlapping areas especially the lower gigivolabial and lower gingivobuccal 29.8%, followed by tongue 19.6%, lower lip 18%, mandible 16.8%, and palate 16%. Conclusion: This study showed that the oral cavity cancer was among the top ten body cancers in Sudanese population. Program of prevention and early detection of oral cancer is needed in Sudan, and further studies should be conducted to investigate the possible causal and risk factors associated with oral cancers.
Keywords: Cancer, Oral cancer, Multicenter, Epidemiology, Frequency, Sudan.

Corresponding author: Mohammed Ali Salah, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan

This article may be cited as: Salah MA, Mohamed EA. Frequency of oral cancers among cancers in Sudanese patients (2009-2016). J Adv Med Dent Scie Res 2017;5(9):26-35.