oral cancer early symptom variations: pain as the first symptom in oral cancer patients

Introduction: although oral cancer is amenable for early detection, it often presents as advanced disease in many of patients. long-lasting ulcer or mucosal discoloration has been described as the key to an early diagnosis; however other symptoms may also exist. the present study aims to describe the frequency of the early symptoms in oral cancer patients, with a special focus on pain. materials and methods: patients (n=100) with primary oral squamous cell carcinoma (scc) treated in three university hospitals during 2004-2006, in tehran, were included in this study. oral cancers were defined as sccs of the oral cavity (icd-10 anatomical sites c01-c06). questionnaireinterviews were made and all the patient records were reviewed for retrieving data. data analysis was done by means of spss version 20, by chi-squared test and multinomial regression. results: majority of patients (73%) reported to have painless ulcer as the first symptom. pain was reported to be the earliest symptom in 10% of oral cancer patients. other symptoms were swelling, white patch, and paresthesia. stage of tumor at the time of diagnosis and source of referral were related to initial symptom (p< 0.05). patients who had pain as the first symptom was mostly referred to hospital by a medical professional rather than a dentist or any other dental professional. they were also at an advanced stage of tumor when being diagnosed. conclusion: this study supports the importance of initial symptoms in the detection of oral cancers in the earliest stage, in order to improve patients’ prognosis and quality of life.