Awareness of oral cancer among medical students in Chennai

Most common cause of death in developed and developing countries is oral cancer, with increasing habits of smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol consumption. Early diagnosis required for better cure rates and improves the quality of life. Screening of oral cancer in general hospitals provides a &quo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medicine, radiology, pathology and surgery radiology, pathology and surgery, 2016-05, Vol.2 (3), p.18-22
Main Authors: Murugesan, Ambika, Sabarinath, Sivapathasundharam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alcohol
Dentists
Etiology
Health risk assessment
Independent sample
Lymphatic system
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical students
Mortality
Oral cancer
Patients
Quality of life
Questionnaires
Risk factors
Students
Surgeons
Tobacco
Ulcers
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Summary:Most common cause of death in developed and developing countries is oral cancer, with increasing habits of smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol consumption. Early diagnosis required for better cure rates and improves the quality of life. Screening of oral cancer in general hospitals provides a "window of opportunity" for early diagnosis. To assess the knowledge of oral cancer and the screening practice among medical students in Chennai city. To investigate whether medical students are aware of the risk factors and clinical signs of oral cancer. A total of500medical students (365 undergraduate and165 postgraduate) studying in Chennai city were included in the questionnaire based survey. About 50% of medical students are aware of oral cancer and only 37% of students screen patients for oral signs during examination; 65.8% of students accept tobacco to be the main etiology of cancer; 31.2% of students accept buccal mucosa to be the common site, and 83% of students are willing to participate in oral cancer screening program. The prognosis of patients depends on the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis.
ISSN:2395-2075
2395-2075
DOI:10.15713/ins.jmrps.58