Routing of patients with oral and oropharyngeal malignancies in a multidisciplinary university hospital (a single-center study)

Purpose. To study the features of routing and treatment of patients in the multidisciplinary University Clinical Hospital No.1 of The First Sechenov Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Sechenov University). Material and methods. A retrospective study was carried out to determine the characteristics of patients who underwent treatment for malignant tumors of oral cavity and/or oropharynx in the Levshin Institute of Cluster Oncology of the Sechenov University during the period from 2016 to 2022. Medical documentation of 188 patients was used for a further comprehensive and detailed study. Results. Malignant neoplasms of the oral cavity were represented by ten localizations of the pathological process, the most common being the tongue – 63 cases (33%). The rarest localization in our study was major salivary gland – 2 cases (1%). 98 (52%) patients presented with stage III to IV oral cavity and oropharygeal cancer, while significantly fewer patients presented with the first stage – 30 (16%). We also found out that active screening of patients who sought medical help for other reasons contributes to the early detection of cancer. The analysis of referral rates revealed that, among the patients hospitalized to University Clinical Hospital No. 1 of the Sechenov University, 28 (15%) patients were outpatients, and 160 (85%) patients referred themselves due to the atypical course of the underlying disease, the presence of concomitant diseases, tumor spread, or as a result of annual active patient involvement campaigns. Conclusion. The incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Russia tends to increase and varies depending on anatomical localization, risk factors, and gender. The incidence of carcinomas of the oropharyngeal region in men is significantly higher than that in women, especially for oral cavity, tonsils, pharynx, and larynx. The development and implementation of an effective quality management system for patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer should become one of the priority tasks of healthcare in the Russian Federation. Key words: malignant tumors, early clinical manifestations, oral cavity cancer, oropharyngeal cancer Conflicts of interest. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Financing. The work is presented as a part of the implementation of the Grant of the President of the Russian Federation to support the Leading Scientific School NSH-599.2022.3 «Noninvasive functional technologies of radiation medicine in screening, early diagnosis, monitoring of treatment and control of rehabilitation of socially significant diseases».