Aim: HER 2/Neu, a member of EGFR family, is over expressed in some tumour. There is a large variation in the percentage of overexpression of HER 2 /Neu in western vs India, where chewing tobacoo is a common practice. The purpose of this study was to determine the tissue expressing of HER 2/neu in patients with Head & Neck oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) and any co-relation with its epidemiological parameter.

Methods: IHC was used to access tissue expression of HER 2/neu in 74 patients with HNSCC during period of 2016 to 2018. All patients were of oral cancer. Both biopsy and resected specimen taken for study.

Results:  Out of 74 patients 21 patients (28.4%) showed strong HER 2/Neu positivity. Those participated in this study were 63(85%) male & 11(14.9%) were female.

Socioeconomic status -31 patients (41.9%) never gone to school , 61 patients (82.4%) uses tobacco .All the 74 patients (100%) presented with ulcer inside mouth (oral cavity) lesion with 13(17.5%) patients having co-morbidities.

Conclusion:  In our cases HER 2/Neu overexpression seen in 28.4% of cases. This finding suggest that further sub-analysis with reference to HER 2 as a prognostic marker & its therapeutic implication is further required.

Keywords; HER 2/Neu, Head and neck cancer. 

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Dr Surendra Nath Swain

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha O Anusandhan Deemed to be University