Abstract
Relatively little is known about the incidence of these lesions in the Middle East. This survey demonstrates epidemiological distribution of Oral, Head and Neck (OHN) lesions in the Eastern Province of KSA based on their histopathological features with further consideration to distribution prevalence among genders, age groups, and ethnicity.
The aim of this survey was to estimate crude and age standardized incidence rate of (OHN) lesions in the Eastern Province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) over 10 years period.
The data used in this retrospective survey extracted from both clinical and histological records registered by the histopathology department of four referral hospitals in the Eastern Province of KSA over 10 years period from 1998 to 2007. All cases of benign and malignant lesions diagnosed were included in the study.
The total number of biopsy records screened was 91,154 representing different parts of the body. Of which 3150 cases were proved taken from OHN regions (1532 males and 1618 females). Out of the OHN cases, 313 biopsies (9.9%) were diagnosed as malignant lesions, while the remaining 2837 (90.1%) cases were non-malignant. Lymphomas were the most common malignancy accounting for 106 cases. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) was more dominant in males rather than females (5.75:1), while Melanomas were exclusively noticeable in males. On the other hand OHN benign neoplasm are dominated by Lipoma (158 cases), Hemangioma (106 cases) and Fibroma (93 cases). Out of OHN cases total screened, 303 were of non-Saudi origin among which 54 (17.8%) had cervical lymph node Tuberculosis (TB), whereas 71 (2.5%) out of 2847 Saudis had cervical lymph node TB (p=0.000000).
The prevalence of OHN lesions in the residents of this region of KSA is more or less similar to the prevalence reported internationally; however, specific gender distribution pattern was noted for some of these lesions as BCC and Melanoma which might be attributed to the influence of conservative traditional behavior and cultural heritage. On the other hand, the multi-nationality trait of this society had a significant impact on the prevalence of some lesions as TB.