Effectiveness of "OralDETECT": a Repetitive Test-enhanced, Corrective Feedback Method Competency Assessment Tool for Early Detection of Oral Cancer

Doctoral: A smartphone-based decision support tool for the early detection of oral potentially malignant disorders

Oral potentially malignant disorders can be defined as mucosal lesions and conditions with an increased risk of malignant transformation. Oral potentially malignant disorders are a significant health burden, and they are often diagnosed late due to scant attention to routine dental practice and the low number of specialized oral medicine centres. This report summarizes the DoctOral experience, a research initiative, providing a free smartphone-based decision support tool for the general medical/dental practitioner; the tool is based on the clinical appearance of oral lesions. Captured, oral pictures can be immediately examined via interactive decision trees and constructed on the smartphone. Such decision trees are expressed in standard formats, and they are readily accessible for facilitating the completion of a hypothetical diagnostic path. Since October 2017 the DoctOral mobile app has been downloaded by 10K + users, achieving a score of 4.8 out of 5. DoctOral also supports an unfolding joint initiative, called DoctOralAI: this involves selecting reference images, with which to create an open-source model, and perform a Case-Based Reasoning method, both of which are combined with machine learning. The DoctOral mobile app has revolutionized oral pathology by providing dental students and professionals with an interactive platform for recognizing and diagnosing oral lesions.

Barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region

Objective

Oral cancer is amenable to early detection but remains a prominent cause of mortality in the Asia Pacific region. This study aimed to identify barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region.

Methods

A mixed-methods approach was employed triangulating findings from a survey and focus groups. The survey was conducted among seven representative members of the Asia Pacific Oral Cancer Network (APOCNET) across six countries. Focus groups were conducted to gain deeper insights into the findings of the survey.

Results

The identified barriers were a lack of national cancer control strategies and cancer registries and the limited availability of trained health care professionals. Overcoming these challenges in the Asia Pacific region where resources are scarce will require collaborative partnerships in data collection and novel approaches for continuous professional training including eLearning. Further, to overcome the lack of trained health care professionals, innovative approaches to the management of oral potentially malignant lesions and oral cancer including telemedicine were suggested.

Conclusion

The findings of this study should be taken into account when charting national cancer control plans for oral cancer and will form the basis for future collaborative studies in evaluating effective measures to improve oral cancer detection and management in low- and middle-income countries.