Prognostic factors in oral cavity carcinomas.

This retrospective study of 176 patients with oral cavity carcinoma showed that nearly 60% of the patients presented with an advanced stage of disease. The duration of symptoms was shorter in patients with a large tumour than with a small (p less than 0.001) and in patients with metastases than in those without (p less than 0.01). Lymph node metastases were more common in large tumours (p less than 0.01), in tumours with high malignancy grading (p less than 0.05) and in non-diploid tumours (p less than 0.001). The presence of lymph node metastases (p less than 0.001), tumour size (p less than 0.01) and tumour DNA ploidy (p less than 0.005) were the only parameters that significantly influenced survival (Cox regression analysis).