Notification of Cancer in Patients with Oral and Maxillofacial Cancer

Abstract

We clinically studied 115 cases (46.7%) of oral and maxillofacial tumor patients treated at our department during 10 years from January 1985 to December 1994. The object of the study was to solve problems associated with the notification of cancer.
Only 10 cases (8.7%) were given notification of cancer using the Murakami's classification in the narrow sense, but numbers have increased in recent years.
There were many notifications of cancer in the 3rd stage of Murakami's classification. Differences in the percentages of patients notified of cancer was observed in the 80's and 90's.
There are 7 stages in the classification of notification of the illness and notification was made in 32 cases (27.8%) using this method.
No difference was observed in the classification of the notification according to stage in the 78 cases of primary oral squamous cell carcinoma.
After the notification of cancer, 40 cases (34.8%) expressed worry. This problem was solved by repeated explanations.
Only 40 spouses were notified, but the percentages tended to increase in the 90's compared to the 80's. In many cases the family especially wives or daughters did not want the patient to be notified of cancer, even in the 90's.