International Journal of Health Sciences & Research (www.ijhsr.org) 111 Vol.8; Issue: 5; May 2018 International Journal of Health Sciences and Research www.ijhsr.org ISSN: 2249-9571 Original Research Article Carcinoma Lower Lip: An Experience from a Regional Cancer Centre of North-East India Dr. Nizara Baishya 1 , Dr. Tashnin Rahman 1 , Dr. Ashok Kumar Das 1 , Chandi Ram Kalita 2 , Dr. Rajjyoti Das 1 , Dr. Anindita Bhagawati 3 1 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, India, 2 Department of Dental Surgery, Regional Dental College, Guwahati, India, 3 Hospital Based Cancer Registry, Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, India, Corresponding Author: Dr. Nizara Baishya ABSTRACT Objective: Carcinoma of lip is a common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity, with the lower lip more commonly involved than the upper lip. The purpose of the present study is to assess the clinicopathological features as a prognostic indicator for carcinoma lower lip. Materials and method: 79 patients of lower lip carcinoma treated at Dr. B. Borooah Cancer Institute, a Regional Cancer Centre from 2010 to 2015 were considered. Survival analysis was estimated by Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank test was done to examine the differences. P<0.05 were regarded as statistically significant. Results: 75.9% patients were males and 24.1% were females. Median age was 60.0 years. All the surgically operated cases were included in the study with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 87.3% and12.7% of verrucous carcinoma. 24/79 (30.4%) patients had recurrence either at the primary site, regional or distant during the follow up period. The tumor factors like positivity of lymph node (pN) and muscle involvement by the tumor were statistically significant for disease recurrence. A 5 year DFS for early and late pathological tumor stage (pT) were 62.8% and 45% respectively (p=.205) and tumor size (60%vs 52.4%). Overall survivals at 5-year follow-up for early and late composite stage were 79.4% and 54.7% respectively. Conclusion: Muscle invasion and lymph node positivity are the criterion for recurrence of disease. Some biomarkers need to be investigated to assess the therapeutic effect and improve the overall prognosis of the disease. Keywords: Carcinoma, lower lip, recurrence, survival. INTRODUCTION Head and neck cancers (HNC) have an incidence of approximately 14/100,000, accounting for 16% to 40% of all malignancies. Oral cancer ranks among the top three types of cancer in India. [1] Carcinoma of the lip accounts for 12% of all HNC, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer and approximately one quarter of the oral cancers. Lower lip is most commonly affected accounting for 95% owing to the location and exposure to sunlight and other risk factors like use of tobacco, areca nut, betel leaves, smoking, viruses, poor oral hygiene and alcohol. [2] The habit of betel nut chewing along with lime smokeless tobacco is customary habit in the north eastern part of India. Males are more