Delay In Diagnosis Of Oral Cancer In Malaysia: A Study Of Five Centres
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/adum.vol3no1.1Keywords:
oral carcinoma, detection, MalaysiaAbstract
The diagnosis of oral cancer have been variously reported as being due to delay by clinicians, patients or both. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the referral pattern of 65 patients eventually diagnosed as having oral squamous cell carcinoma. The results showed that 50% of the patients delayed seeking professional help for more than 3 months after being aware of the lesion. The majority of the patients consulted medical practitioners as the first source of help. The mean clinicians' and patients' delay were 10.3 weeks and 28.9 weeks respectively. Dental practitioners showed a tendency to refer on more advanced lesions compared to the medical practitioners. The findings raise the concern that lack of patients' awareness, misdiagnosis by clinicians and late detection by dental practitioners prevail thus calling for urgent measures towards early detection of the disease.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- The Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya holds the copyright of the published manuscript including all its components such as supplementary information, graphical contents and raw data without any restrictions.
- The author grant the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya assignable and sub-licensable right, unlimited in time and territory, to copy-edit, reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, make available and store the Article, including abstracts thereof, in all forms of media of expression now known or developed in the future, including pre- and reprints, translations, photographic reproductions and extensions.
- After acceptance for publication in Ann Dent UM, the author(s) have the right to use any of its components in whole or in part for academic purposes such as, presentation in scientific conferences and seminars.
