OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical iatrogenic factors related to delay in diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

METHODSA total of 102 consecutive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, treated in Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Peking University Hospital of Stomatology were included in the study. For iatrogenic (professional) delay, stepwise multiple logistic regression and monofactor analysis, chi-square, test with 95% confidence interval (CI), were applied to analyze the correlation between the professional delay in diagnosis and the possible related clinical factors.

RESULTSWhether adopting biopsy at the first clinical management, length of time from the first clinical visit to adopting biopsy, number of clinical departments visited and whether taking any treatment before definitive diagnosis had significant influence on the delay.

CONCLUSIONSTaking biopsy at the first clinical visit, shortening the time from the first visit to biopsy and less undirected treatment can reduce the iatrogenic delay.