Abstract

Aim: Lip masses ar e classified as benign, premalign and malign tumors. Patients with lip masses usually apply to the hospitals with nodular lesions, superficial ulcerations with or without enduration or bleeding and nonhealing wounds. Early diagnosis and surgical approach is important in patients with lip masses. Our aim in this study is to evaluate the patients who applied to our clinic within lip masses within the last five years in terms of demografic characteristics, histopathological diagnosis and surgical approach. Methods: 204 patients who applied to our clinic with the complaint of suspicious lesion on the lip between the dates January 2001-January 2006 were included in this study and were followed up median 38 months. Excisional biopsy was performed to 162 of them for diagnostic and/or treatment purposes wheras radical surgery was performed in 34 patients according to the histopathological results. Eight of them were accepted as inoperable and referred to radiochemotherapy. Results: The male/female ratio was 135/69 (% 66.1 - % 33.8) and the median age at the time of diagnosis was median 59 years (range 34 to 74 years). Their histopathological evaluation revealed that 54.4% was in benign and 45.5% was in malign character. Capiller hemangioma (15.3%), ulcerate infiamation (14.4%)), pyogenic granuloma (9.9%) and fibromas (9%) were the most freguent lip masses in our study. While 88 of the 93 cases with malign hispothapathology were diagnose as epidermoid cancer, 2 patients were reported as verrucous carcinoma, 1 patient malign pleomorphic adenoma, 1 patient chondroid sarcoma and 1 patient rhabdomyosarcoma. The surgical intervention was chosen according to the location and size of the cancer as well as preservation of the cosmetic and function of the lip. Cancer was detected on the upper lip in 4 and on the lower lip in 30 patients. Moreover, with the purpose of control of the disease, the necessary neck dissection interventions were applied in 21 of our patients. Conclusion: 45.5%o of our patients with masses on the lip uuere malign and epidermoid carcinoma was found to be most freguent lip cancer (94.6%o). Early diagnosis and proper surgical appoach is important in these patients both for survival uuithout disease and cosmetic and functional reasons.