A 10-year review of the clinicopathological patterns and prevalence of head and neck lesions in a tertiary health facility in Uyo, South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Head and neck (HN) lesions occur globally, with remarkable morbidity and mortality. However, in our setting, relevant data are lacking to show its clinicopathologic nature. Hence, we aimed to review the clinicopathological patterns and incidence of HN lesions within a 10-year (January 2010 to December 2019) period as well as provide useful data/information to help in better future management of patients with HN lesions. A retrospective cross-sectional study of HN lesions (with respect to age, gender, site of lesion, and histopathological diagnosis) at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital Uyo from January 2010 to December 2019. A total of 276 HN lesions were analyzed over a 10-year period, with a prevalence of 0.004. Patients with the highest volume of HN lesions were within the 30–<40 age group. The lesions were more in females (53.6%) with M: F ratio of 1:1.2. There were more neoplastic HN lesions (85.1%) than non-neoplastic HN lesions (14.9%). The benign HN lesions (67.7%) were also more frequent than the malignant HN lesions (32.3%). And the benign neoplastic HN lesions (79.5%) were more than benign non-neoplastic HN lesions (20.5%). The most common HN lesions, respectively, in different subcategories, found in this study were squamous cell carcinoma, nodular goiter, inflammatory nasal polyps, and cystic hygroma. We recommend study of HN lesions’ possible etiologic/risk factors as well as a nationwide survey to determine a national prevalence of HN lesions.