J Korean Assoc Maxillofac Plast Reconstr Surg.  2005 Jul;27(4):346-349.

A clinical study of metastatic carcinoma to oral soft tissue

• Park JY
• Kim HS
• Ok YJ
• Song JA
• Lee JH
• Kim MJ
• Choi SW

Abstract

Metastatic tumours to oral soft tissue are uncommon and accounts for approximately 1% of malignant oral neoplasms. Because of its rarity and clinical appearance of benign nature, the diagnosis of a metastatic lesion in the oral soft tissue may be challenging, both to clinicians and pathologists. We analyzed the clinical data of 9 patients who had metastatic carcinoma to oral soft tissues. The metastatic site to oral soft tissue was the gingiva in all cases. The most common primary site was lung (6 cases) followed by liver (2 cases) and breast (1 case). The clinical appearance resembled gingiva hyperplasia, pyogenic granuloma or gingival swelling. In one case, the metastatic gingiva lesion was found before detection of primary cancer. The mean survival time after diagnosis of metastatic lesion was 3 months. Although this metastatic lesion is rare, oral and maxillofacial surgeon should recognized that benign inflammatory lesion may be the metastatic malignant lesion or the first sign of undiagnosed underlying malignancy.

Keyword

Metastatic tumour; Gingiva

MeSH Terms

Breast
Diagnosis
Gingiva
Granuloma, Pyogenic
Humans
Hyperplasia
Liver
Lung
Mouth Neoplasms
Survival Rate