Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to evaluate, in a tertiary care context, the effects of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection on the incidence and prognosis of oral malignancies. METHODS: At a tertiary care hospital, 100 patients who received an oral cancer diagnosis between 2020 and 2022 were the subject of a retrospective analysis. Medical records were used to gather clinicopathological data, and histopathological specimens' molecular analyses were used to ascertain the HPV infection status. To assess the variations in overall and disease-free survival between HPV-positive [HPV+] and HPV-negative [HPV-] patients, survival analysis was done. RESULTS: Of the oral malignancies that tested positive for HPV, 25% were caused by strains HPV-16 and HPV-18. Patients who tested positive for HPV had unique clinicopathological characteristics, such as a decreased prevalence of lymph node involvement, nonkeratinizing histology, and younger age at diagnosis. When compared to HPV- patients, HPV+ patients had substantially better overall survival (P = 0.032) and disease-free survival (P = 0.047) according to survival analysis. CONCLUSION: The incidence and prognosis of oral malignancies are significantly impacted by HPV infection, as demonstrated by current data. When compared to HPV- cancers, HPV+ tumors have different clinicopathological characteristics and improved survival rates. These findings have implications for therapy selection and prognostication, and they highlight the significance of HPV testing in the therapeutic management of oral malignancies. To understand the underlying molecular pathways and provide tailored therapeutics for oral malignancies that are HPV+, more research is required.