Oral leukoplakia: A clinicopathological study and malignant transformation

Abstract

Objectives To assess the clinicopathological characteristics of a cohort of patients with oral leukoplakia (OL) managed in a Romanian dental hospital and to evaluate the risk of malignant transformation (MT). Materials and methods We conducted a hospital‐based retrospective study using the clinical charts of patients diagnosed with OL that had complete clinical and histopathological evaluation followed up for 1–16 years. Results From 120 included patients, 68 (56.7%) were females, and 71 (59.2%) were current smokers. The homogeneous form was present in 60% of cases; the buccal mucosa was the most frequently involved site. MT was observed in 9 cases, which was more common in females and in those with dysplastic leukoplakia. A significant statistical association was found between MT and dysplasia grade (χ2 test: p = 0.007). MT occurred during a mean interval of time 75 months in both treated and non‐treated patients. Conclusions In this leukoplakia cohort, most of the lesions encountered were in smokers, clinically homogeneous and 62.5% proved histologically benign. But despite the clinically benign appearance of leukoplakia, tissue diagnosis of some cases was carcinoma. The results of the current study advocate the necessity for biopsy even in apparently homogeneous, clinically benign lesions. The malignization rate was 7.5%; two‐thirds were nonhomogeneous lesions.

Photodynamic therapy reduced the risk of malignant transformation of oral leukoplakia: a retrospective study in an ethnic Chinese cohort

“…The proportion of malignant transformation reported in different literatures varies greatly. [19,20]. The overall malignant transformation proportion in this study was 14.6%, higher than that reported in previous literature.…”

Effect of clinical and histologic features on time to malignancy in 224 cases of oral leukoplakia treated by surgery

“…Aguirre-Urizar et al [5] found an overall proportion of MT of 9.8% (95% CI: 7.9-11.7). Tovaru et al [20] reported 7.5% malignant transformation in their 120 leukoplakias, being more frequent in women and in those with dysplasia. Schepman et al [21] described a 2.9% annual malignant transformation rate in their 166 patients and Warnakulasuriya et al [22] informed that 2.6% of OPMDs cases transformed to invasive cancer.…”

Characteristics of the dual nature of the p27 protein in oral leukoplakias and cancer

“…Real premalignant changes on the cellular level are observed in severe dysplasia only. Researchers worldwide consider that transformation of dysplasia into cancer occurs approximately within a period of four to seven years (Brouns et al, 2014;Alsalem, 2019;Tovaru et al, 2022). Therefore, it is necessary to study not only on nuclear changes, nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio, and architectural disarrangement in dysplasia, but also the subcellular processes of oral epithelium, particularly the molecular components in nucleus and cytoplasm.…”