Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Human papillomavirus (HPV) is established cause of head and neck cancers among other causes and is a better prognostic marker than tumor stage, which spurs clinically interest on HPV testing. The aims of our study were to find the incidence of HPV in various subsites of squamous cell carcinoma of Head & Neck cancers and to compare the risk profile and clinical presentation of HPV positive and HPV negative patients. METHODS Patients of suspected head neck cancers were biopsied. One biopsy sample was sent for histopathology, the second biopsy sample was preserved in NET (NaCl, EDTA, Tris) buffer at -20oC temperature till biopsy report arrives. The patients who were confirmed of having squamous cell carcinoma were examined in detail for risk factors & clinical profile. Their second preserved samples were sent for HPV. All the HPV samples were processed in Real Time - PCR in The Central research Laboratory of the institute.

Description