MALIGNANT LIP TUMOURS; SURVIVAL ANALYSIS.

This paper referred to malignant tumours of lips. The objectives of this study were to present distribution of malignant diseases of lips according to patients' gender and age, localization of tumour, pathological analysis and to present a five-year survival analysis on these patients, as well as to assess the importance of early diagnosis and medical treatment. A ten-year retrospective clinical and observational follow-up study of patients treated at Clinic for Maxillofacial Surgery, Clinical Centre University of Sarajevo for malignant tumours of lips, in period from January 1998 to December 2007, was performed. Total of 1,271 patients were admitted for treatment, of which 139 patients had tumour of lips. Results showed that at our Clinic we treated more male patients with malignant lips tumours than female ones (gender ratio 2.3 men to 1 woman); mostly older patients, with almost half of them being at age 60 years or more. Regarding histopathology, tumours were predominantly squamous cell carcinoma type. Life-table analysis showed a five-year survival rate of 71.23%. Nevertheless, this study should be seen as the pilot study. One with similar methodology but more extensive - regarding number of patients, including more detailed anamnestic data and longer follow-up period - should be conducted, in order to clarify correlation of all demographic and risk factors, treatment data and exact survival times and rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]