Anaplastic Transformation in Verrucous Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity After Radiation Therapy

• DOI: 10.1148/86.1.108
• Publication Date: 2014-07-08T18:54:59Z
• Authors: Carlos A. Perez; Frederick T. Kraus; John C. Evans; William E. Powers
• Keywords: Male; Cobalt Isotopes; Lip Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; Humans; Female; Mouth Neoplasms; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Radioisotope Teletherapy; Aged; Tongue Neoplasms; 3. Good health

Verrucous carcinoma of the oral cavity has been established as a distinctive clinical and pathologic entity (1, 2, 11, 15). Typically, the lesion appears as a slow-growing warty mass on the gingival or buccal mucosa of an elderly patient. Histologically, it is characterized by a well differentiated pattern of squamous epithelium in abundant papillomatous hyperkeratotic folds. The tumor slowly invades deeper structures, including bone, but rarely metastasizes (1, 2, 7, 15). A predilection for the mucosa of the oral cavity of tobacco chewers has been noted (1,2, 11), but the lesion also occurs in the larynx and on the squamous mucosa of the vulva, vagina, and glans penis (15). Reports on satisfactory results of treatment of verrucous carcinoma with surgery and diathermy have appeared in the literature (11, 15, 21). Although a large number of cases of squamous carcinoma of the oral cavity have been irradiated (4, 8, 15, 19), the poor response of verrucous carcinoma to this particular method of treatment has ...