Study of tumour ploidy in early stages of buccal mucosa cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a tumourʹs DNA content is a prognostic factor in screening out the biologically aggressive varieties of early buccal mucosa cancer. Seventy-eight cases of early squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa were studied, including 73 with aneuploid and diploid tumours. T1 and T2 tumours, pathological differentiation, vascular and perineural invasion, and the recurrence and disease-free survival rate in relation to aneuploid and diploid content were ascertained. The recurrence rate in aneuploid tumours is 72%, whereas in diploid tumours it is 6% (P<0.001). A Cox regression analysis demonstrated that tumour ploidy was a prognostic factor in disease-free survival, independent of other clinico-pathological characteristics examined. Aneuploidy is the most accurate predictor of biological aggressiveness of cancer of the buccal mucosa. Aneuploid early buccal mucosa cancers should be treated by multimodal therapy to achieve a cure.