A clinical study on survival rate of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lower lip in Kosovo.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to find out the survival rate of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lower lip in Kosovo and to see the effect of stage of disease on the success of surgical treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 789 patients with SCCLL who were referred to the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, were examined during a period of 20 years (between 1993 and 2013). 614 (77.82%) of these patients received treatment and have regularly visited the department once every 3 months for post-operative controls. Data have been collected from these 614 patients for 10 years; thus the follow-up period lasts for 10 years for every patient under control. The collected data were analysed using Chi square test. Patients were classified by sex, aetiology, stage of the disease, location of the disease, the treatment patients received, metastasis rate and survival rate. RESULTS: The most susceptible patients were those at ages between 50 and 70. The youngest patient was 8 years old whereas the oldest was 92. The male-female ratio was 5:1. 57% of the patients had been working outdoors and had been exposed to sunlight. Ten years survival rate for the Stages I, II, III and IV was 91.7%, 83.7%, 28% and 11.4% respectively. CONCLUSION: It was found that the success of the surgery was closely related with the stage of disease and early diagnosis. Training the relevant parties (i.e., the people, family doctors etc.) on early diagnosis would improve the survival rate.