Pattern of oral cancer registered at a tertiary care teaching hospital in rural Western Maharashtra.

Non-communicable diseases including cancer are emerging as major public health problems in India. Cancer usually means malignancy, has become one of the ten leading cause of death in India. The leading sites of cancer vary from country to country. Oral cancer ranks in the top three of all cancers in India, accounting for over 30% of all cancers reported in the country and its control is quickly becoming a global health priority. The present study was conducted to find out the contribution of different type of oral cancer in a tertiary care teaching hospital of western Maharashtra, India. A retrospective hospital record based study was carried out for the period of 2007-2011 in the department of Radiotherapy of Pravara Rural Hospital, Loni, Maharashtra, India. A total of 5879 patients who were diagnosed with cancer, of them 633 (10.76%) patients had oral cancer. Data was collected on the basis of the patient’s record in the hospital and analyzed in the form of percentage and proportions whenever appropriate. A total of 633 oral cancer patients were screened, of which 411 (64.93%) were males and 222 (35.07%) were females. Among oral cancer, buccal mucosa was highest (37.12%); followed by tongue (36.80%), oropharynx (4.74%) and lip and palate (3.15%). Oral cancer is one of the common malignancies in developing countries like India. It is common in males compared to females and is usually seen after middle age.