Clinicopathological profile of clear cell oral squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological profile of clear cell oral squamous cell carcinoma (CCOSCC).

STUDY

DESIGN

A detailed search was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, LILACS, Web of Science, and Gray Literature sources.

RESULTS

Seventeen cases of CCOSCC were found across 16 selected articles. CCOSCC affected mainly the mandibular gingiva, maxillary gingiva, and tongue of adults with a mean age of 60.1 years old, with a slight preference for males. The cases usually manifested as painful ulcerated lesions. Microscopically, they were lined by squamous epithelium that invaded the adjacent connective tissue and contained cells with abundant clear cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical staining was performed in 15 studies, with AE1/AE3, EMA, and CK5/6 most frequently markers showing positivity. Histochemistry/special stains were used in all cases.

CONCLUSIONS

This review showed that CCOSCC is a rare and aggressive tumor with a slight predilection for male patients, located mainly in the mandibular gingiva, maxillary gingiva, and tongue.