Evaluation of cannibalistic cells: a novel entity in prediction of aggressive nature of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: Cellular cannibalism is a distinctive morphologic feature exclusively seen in aggressive malignancies and is defined as a large cell enclosing a slightly smaller one within its cytoplasm. This phenomenon has been illustrated in several malignancies and is correlated well with the degree of anaplasia, invasive and metastatic potential of tumor cells. However, this marker has not been extensively studied and is often unnoticed during the routine histopathological assessment of Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).