Prevalence of Benign and Malignant Lesions in the Head Region: An Observational Study
Amna Sohail, Natalia Malik, Raja Yasser Shahbaz, Zia ur Rehman, Aman ur Rehman, Faiqua Yasser, Muhammad Sohaib
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ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate
the frequency of head benign and malignant lesions with regard to age group,
sex, site and type of lesion and clinical variety in a tertiary care hospital
in Lahore.
Methodology:
Basic research design: An observational cross-sectional study, included
collection and analysis of histopathological data over the last 4 years i.e.
2016-2019.
Test of significance chi-square was done for data analysis in IBM SPSS
v17.
Clinical setting: Pathology Departments of Sheikh Zayed Hospital
(tertiary care hospital).
Results: Sample included a total of 952 patient records in this study, with 587 (61.7%)
males and 365 (38.3%) females. There
were 514 cases of the head region and 438 cases of the neck region. Out of 514
total head region cases, 66 were malignant and 458 were benign. Participants
were divided into age groups (1-18,
19-35, 36-50, 51-70, 70+) years respectively.
The prevalence of benign cancers in head
region was calculated in percentages according to which most patients were of
nasal polyp at 26.3%, pleomorphic adenoma were 3.4%, with fibro-epithelial
polyp were 9.5%. In the malignant category though Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
was the most prevalent malignant lesion with highest frequency recorded in
tongue region were 4.0%, rest with SCC nose were 0.6%, with SCC soft palate
were 2.1%.
The results of the chi-square revealed
that there was a significant difference found with regards to the prevalence of
various benign lesions in the head region between males (X2 =
1003.041, P>.001) and females (X2 = 593.937, P>.001).
In addition, the difference among males
and females was found statistically significant with regards to the prevalence
of different types of malignant tumors in head region (for males, X2
= 238.447, P>.001, for females, X2 = 112.641, P>.001).
With regards to the age groups the
prevalence of different types of benign cancers was found to be statistically
significant at head region (X2 = 140.500, P>.001), however there
was a non-significant difference between the age-wise prevalence of different
types of malignant cancers of head region (X2 = 44.702, P = .281).
Conclusion: A reappraisal of neoplastic lesions of this important anatomical
region in this study highlight the wide spectrum of tumors encountered along
with its relative frequency. Squamous cell carcinoma constitutes the highest
percentage of all the malignancies in the head region. Though head malignancies
are a serious concern, good awareness, education, and early diagnosis can
reduce their incidence.