Background:Oral cancer is a major public health problem in India. A key factor that has led to lack of improvement in prognosis of oral cancer over the years, is delay in diagnosis and treatment. In many instances, a significant proportion of oral squamous cell carcinomas develop from premalignant lesions and conditions. Identification of such lesions and conditions is very important in order to prevent malignant transformation. The role of fungal infections has been studied and holds promise as an indicator to predict malignant transformation. So we designed a study to analyze the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of premalignant lesions and conditions.Aims and Objectives:To determine and compare the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions and to assess the possible association between the degree of epithelial dysplasia and presence or absence of fungal hyphae.Materials and Methods:Clinically suspected and histopathologically diagnosed 70 cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions (29 leukoplakia, 16 submucous fibrosis and 25 lichen planus) made up the study group. Three tissue sections (5μm) of each were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E), periodic acid–Schiff's reagent (PAS) and Grocott's methenamine silver (GMS) and evaluated for fungal hyphae. The data collected was statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.Results:The estimated prevalence of fungal hyphae in cases with or without dysplasia in leukoplakia was 41.4%, lichen planus 36% and submucous fibrosis 25%. There was a significant association between degree of epithelial dysplasia with presence or absence of fungal hyphae in all the study groups.Conclusion:Presence of fungal hyphae in potentially malignant lesions and conditions may prove to be a useful indicator in predicting malignant transformation.

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Background: Trace elements are required in small concentrations as essential active components of biological enzyme systems. They are in the form of metalloenzymes and copper is one such component. Copper metabolism is profoundly altered in neoplastic disease. Copper plays an important role in tumor angiogenesis especially in early stages and is also necessary for endothelial cell activation. Copper content in tissues of oral leukoplakia (OL), oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has not been studied extensively. Hence, we attempted this retrospective study to analyze copper content in the tissues by using rhodamine stain for better understanding of pathogenesis. Aim and Objectives: To evaluate and compare the copper content and its depth of penetration in tissue sections of diagnosed cases of oral precancer and cancer by using rhodamine staining method. Materials and Methods: This retrospective analytical study was conducted on histologically diagnosed 10 cases each of OL, OSMF, and OSCC. Ten cases of normal mucosa served as control. The selected cases were subjected to staining with rhodamine for qualitative analysis of copper content. Results: Paired t-test showed a significant increase in copper content in the study group (P = 0.516) as compared to control group. Krushall-Wallis non-parametric test showed higher mean value of copper content in cases of OSMF (2.00) than the cases of OL (1.20) and OSCC (1.70). Conclusion: Copper content by rhodamine staining technique was found to be higher in OSMF than OL and OSCC this staining technique can be used as a prognostic indicator for assessment of disease progression.

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