Background: Squamous cell carcinoma is the commonest head and neck malignancy which accounts for approximately 20% of the cancer burden in Asian countries. Major risk factors include tobacco smoking thus a rendering it a preventable disease. Frequencies and incidence rates of site-specific head and neck squmaous cell carcinoma have been reported regularly in different studies from various parts of the country. Current study aims at contributing the similar data from Bahawalpur region.
Methods: It was a descriptive study including 184 biopsy proven cases of squamous cell carcinoma from head and neck region reported by Department of Pathology, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur during January 2008 and December 2012. Data was acquired from hospital and lab records and analysed using SPSS version 18.
Results: Mean age of the patients was 55.76±7.21 (median: 50) years. Male to female ratio was almost 2:1. History of smoking was positive in 72.28% of patients. The most common affected sites in order of frequency were larynx (n=79, 42.93%), hypopharnx (n=36, 19.56%), oral cavity (n=29, 15.76%), face/skin (n=24, 13.04%), lips (n=10, 5.43%) and tongue (n=6, 3.26%). More than a half of the tumours were histologically classified as well-differentiated squamous cell carcinomas (n=94, 51.09%).
Conclusions: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has a peak age in 6th decade of life and twice common in men as compared to women. Most frequent site of HNSCC in Bahawalpur region is larynx.
Key words: Head and neck cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, larynx, pharynx, oral cavity.
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