Early Stage Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Use of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 as a Risk Factor for Poor Diagnosis

Head and neck cancer accounts for 5-10% of all tumors, and cancer of the oral cavity accounts for 30% of all head and neck cancers. Currently, nodal status is the single most important clinical prognostic indicator for survival. While the 5 year survival of patients with T1 and T2 disease in the absence of nodal disease can be as high as 70-80%, and 50-60% in patients with T3 and T4 disease in the absence of nodal disease, the 5 year survival drops by half in the presence of nodal disease to 25-30%. Thus, new diagnostic attempts are aimed to establish parameters leading to improved survival of patients with oral cancer that is predominantly squamous cell type in nature.