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Short Communication - Rare oral soft tissue metastasis: An overview

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Metastasis means that cancer spreads to a different body part from where it started. When this happens, doctors say the cancer has “metastasized.” Your doctor may also call it "metastatic cancer," "advanced cancer," or "stage 4 cancer." But these terms can have different meanings. For example, a cancer that is large but has not spread to another body part can also be called advanced cancer or locally advanced cancer. Ask your doctor to explain where the cancer has spread. Metastases is the plural form of metastasis. Metastases most commonly develop when cancer cells break away from the main tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system. These systems carry fluids around the body. This means that the cancer cells can travel far from the original tumor and form new tumors when they settle and grow in a different part of the body. Metastases can also sometimes develop when cancer cells from the main tumor, typically in the belly, or abdominal cavity, break off and grow in nearby areas, such as in the liver, lungs, or bones. Any type of cancer can spread. Whether this happens depends on several factors, including: The type of cancer. Some cancers are more likely to spread than others. How fast the cancer is growing, Other factors about the behavior of the cancer that your doctor may find. Cancer can spread to almost every part of the body. Some types of cancer tend to spread to certain parts of the body. For example: Breast cancer tends to spread to the bones, liver, lungs, chest wall, and brain, Lung cancer tends to spread to the brain, bones, liver, and adrenal glands, Prostate cancer tends to spread to the bones, Colon and rectal cancers tend to spread to the liver and lungs. Less frequently, cancer can spread to the skin, muscle, or other organs in the body. Cancer cells can also spread to the lining around the lungs called the pleural cavity. It can also spread to the space around the belly called the peritoneal cavity. When these cancer cells cause fluid to build up in these areas, it is called malignant pleural effusion and malignant ascites. Metastasis to the oral cavity is a rare event and constitutes 1% of all oral cavity malignancies. We would like to report the cases in the literature of rare oral soft tissue metastasis. We reported oral metastasis on the cheeks, on the lips, on the floor of the mouth, on soft palate and on the uvula. We had found only eight cases of oral metastasis on the lips. The primary malignant tumor that most frequently undergo metastasis at the labial level is certainly the renal tumor with five cases out of eight. In five cases the upper lip was affected, there was one case in which metastasis was present in both lips, and this is a very interesting data because the other malignant diseases are more frequent in the lower lip. We had found in Pubmed literature only seven cases of oral metastasis on the floor of the mouth, oral metastasis in the floor of the mouth, we found only five cases of oral metastasis on the cheek. Oral lesion of 54 mm of maximum diameter was reported. We have searched cases of metastasis on the soft palate and on the uvula. The malignant tumors that undergo metastasis at the soft palate were renal, bronchial and lung carcinomas. This overview underlines how this oral disease can sometimes be misunderstood, and the importance of regular checks in patients who already have a diagnosis of malignancy. Treatment depends on: The original cancer and where it started, How much the cancer has spread and where it is located, Your age and health, Your personal treatment choices. Researchers are learning more about how metastases may differ from the original tumor at the molecular and genetic level. This is why treatment for metastasis is often different from the treatment used for the original tumor. Treatment may include chemotherapy or hormone therapy. Surgery and radiation therapy may also be options for some types of cancer. Doctors might try one type of treatment and then switch to another when the first treatment no longer works. Or you might have a combination of treatments. The main types of treatment for metastasis include: Treatment that affects your entire body. Doctors call this systemic therapy. It includes chemotherapy and other medications, such as targeted therapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy. Treatment for the area with cancer, doctors call this local therapy. It includes surgery, radiation therapy, and some other treatments.