Outcomes of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma in pediatric patients

Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) is uncommon in young patients and rare in the pediatric population. OCSCC is believed to behave aggressively in this age group, but the existing literature is limited to case reports. The objective of this study was to compare survival outcomes in pediatric and adult patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.

We performed a population-based study of 54 pediatric (age⩽20) and 22,162 adult cases of OCSCC, recorded in the SEER cancer registry. Overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Cox multivariable regression was used to control for covariates including gender, stage, histologic grade and treatment modality.

Pediatric patients with OCSCC experienced significantly better 5year DSS than adult patients (75.3% vs. 63.5%, p=0.02). Pediatric patients were also more likely to be female (37.0% vs. 31.7%, p=0.04) and to receive surgery (87.0% vs. 68.6%, p<0.001). When these factors, as well as non-significant differences in rates of metastases and histologic grade were controlled for on multivariable analysis, the pediatric and adult groups experienced equivalent DSS (p=0.64).

Pediatric patients with OCSCC experience better survival than adult patients. When differences in patient, tumor and treatment-related characteristics are adjusted for, the two groups experience equivalent survival.