Oral leukoplakia in a South African sample: a clinicopathological study

Clinicopathological evaluation of oral leukoplakia: a single-center study of 676 cases in Japan

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the clinical and histopathological characteristics of oral leukoplakia (OL) in the Japanese population and investigate the prevalence and risk factors for epithelial dysplasia (ED) and carcinoma within lesions.

STUDY DESIGN

Data, including age, sex, lesion site, and histopathological features, of 676 cases diagnosed with OL over the previous 10 years were analyzed. Dysplasia and carcinoma prevalence were determined.

RESULTS

In male patients, the most affected site was the gingiva (42.7%), whereas in females, it was the tongue (47.6%). Moreover, ED was more prevalent in males (41.9%), whereas epithelial hyperplasia was more common in females (44.7%). A significant difference was observed between affected sites with regard to the presence of dysplasia. The ED rates by site were 64.6% and 33.7% for the tongue and gingiva, respectively (P < 0.05). The squamous cell carcinoma rates by site were 23.4%, 5.4%, and 3.4% for the tongue, buccal mucosa, and gingiva, respectively (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed a higher prevalence of dysplasia in males than it did in females and that the risk for both dysplasia and carcinoma was highest in the tongue.

CONCLUSIONS

Dysplasia is common in OL cases, often showing carcinoma. Early biopsy and interventions are key in OL management.

Oral leukoplakia-epidemiological survey and histochemical analysis of 107 cases in Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To perform an epidemiological survey comparing the cell proliferative activity of 107 cases of oral leukoplakia with their clinical and histopathological characteristics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional, observational, and histological-histochemical study. The cases came from the Histopathological Diagnostic Service of UPF/RS and the School of Dentistry of Araçatuba FOA/UNESP/SP (1986-2016). The histopathological sections were stained using the silver staining (AgNOR) technique and the nuclei of 100 epithelial cells selected randomly were recorded to count the number of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs). The mean NORs per lesion were correlated to clinical and histological characteristics using ANOVA, at 5% significance.

RESULTS

Most of the cases included men (62.62%), white (64.49%), and with an average age of 53.94 years. The most probable etiological factors were smoking (44.7%) and alcohol consumption (9.85%). The evolution time of most lesions was fast (33.65%), manifesting mainly in the form of plaques (70.37%) and without symptoms (58.88%). They were located mainly in the cheek mucosa (26.62%) and presented white color (66.35%), well-defined edges (59.81%), firm consistency (47.5%), and keratinized surface (49.53%). Etiological factor (p = 0.003), evolution time (p = 0.006), symptoms (p = 0.029), location (p = 0.020), consistency (p = 0.047), histopathological characteristics (p = 0.004), and superficial keratinization (p = 0.001) were statistically significant regarding the mean NORs of the leukoplakias studied.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Oral leukoplakias caused by alcohol consumption and/or tobacco use, considering an evolution time of fewer than 12 months, asymptomatic, located in the lower lip or tongue, and with a firm consistency and increased superficial keratinization should be treated more aggressively by the clinician to avoid cancerization.

Oral epithelial dysplasia: Causes, quantification, prognosis, and management challenges

Oral epithelial dysplasia is a spectrum of architectural and cytological epithelial changes caused by accumulation of genetic changes, and is associated with an increased risk of progression to squamous cell carcinoma. It is a microscopic diagnosis of immense clinical importance. The initial reports of oral potentially malignant disorders with oral epithelial dysplasia transforming to oral cancer helped in understanding the nature of oral malignancies. Since then, clinical studies on oral potentially malignant disorders have combined microscopic findings of oral epithelial dysplasia to assess the malignant transformation potential of different grades of epithelial dysplasia. A significant amount of scientific literature has amassed on oral epithelial dysplasia relating to aspects of its diagnosis and management. However, the evidence base is weak as a result of the significant variability of published research. Poorly described study methods, variability in different oral epithelial dysplasia grading systems, inter- and intra-examiner variability causing issues of reliability, inadequate sample size, and inconsistent durations of follow-up are some of the methodological issues contributing to the failure to provide dependable information. Randomized clinical trials on the malignant transformation potential of oral epithelial dysplasia and its treatment outcomes are limited. This comprehensive literature review on oral epithelial dysplasia summarizes the scientific knowledge published in the scientific literature in English since its first description. The historical development, etiological factors, grading systems, diagnostic criteria, assessment of risk factors and prevention of malignant transformation, management principles of different grades of oral epithelial dysplasia (surgical and nonsurgical), recommendations on follow-up, and prognostic indicators are discussed in detail.

Survival study of leukoplakia malignant transformation in a region of northern Spain

Background

Oral leukoplakia is the most common potentially malignant disorder (PMD) of the oral cavity. The objectives of this study are to determine the clinicopathologic features in a group of patients with oral leukoplakia of Northern Spain (Galicia), determining the factors associated to clinical risk and analyzing the malignant transformation of these patients.

Material and Methods

We included 85 patients. We recorded sex and age, habits like alcohol and tobacco, size, clinical appearance, site, number of lesions, and presence or absence of dysplasia. We assess the association between risk factors and transformation and developed a logistic regression analysis. Finally we used the Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test for the survival analysis.

Results

7 patients (8.2%) had malignant transformation. The mean follow-up of the patients was 4.13 years versus 5.58 years of those who developed carcinoma. Only location and initial dysplasia have a statistically significant relationship with malignant transformation, but when applied the long rank test only the presence of dysplasia remains statistically significant(P<0,026). Oral Cancer Free Survival was 81.9% (0.150) at 11 years for the group without dysplasia.

Conclusions

We found that the presence of dysplasia is the only risk factor that is statistically related to the development of a carcinoma.

Key words:Leukoplakia, oral cancer and oral precancer, follow-up, malignant transformation.

Long-term outcome of non-surgical treatment in patients with oral leukoplakia

The standard treatments for oral leukoplakia range from careful observation to complete resection. No surgical intervention is chosen for several supposable reasons. Surgical treatment and no surgical treatment for oral leukoplakia have no defined basis for comparisons, and few studies have reported on the long-term outcomes of oral leukoplakia without surgery.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to identify the important factors using a long-term wait-and-see policy in patients with oral leukoplakia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In total, 237 lesions from 218 patients selected for non-surgical therapy between 2001 and 2010 were analyzed. On the basis of long-term follow-up data, lesions were classified as unchanged, reduced, disappeared, expanded, and malignantly transformed.

RESULTS

In total, 135 (57.0%) lesions remained unchanged, 30 (12.7%) lesions were characterized by a reduction in size or clinical severity, and 44 (18.6%) lesions had disappeared. Another 17 (7.2%) lesions resulted in spread or clinical deterioration, and 11 (4.6%) lesions developed oral squamous cell carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated a cumulative malignant transformation rate of 11.6% in 10years without resection. The lesions that were nonhomogeneous, and higher degree of epithelial dysplasia, located on the tongue were likely to progress into cancer. In addition, 32.5% of lesions without surgical treatment were reduced or disappeared. There is a possibility that removal of considerable irritation for a long time contributes to the treatment of this disease. The development of appropriate treatments for oral leukoplakia is required, which will enable successful differentiation between surgical and observation cases.