IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i24p9160-d458710.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Oral Cancer and Precancer: A Narrative Review on the Relevance of Early Diagnosis

Author

Listed:
  • Silvio Abati

    (Dentistry and Stomatology-IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy
    School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy)

  • Chiara Bramati

    (School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy
    Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Department, San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy)

  • Stefano Bondi

    (Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Department, San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy)

  • Alessandra Lissoni

    (Dentistry and Stomatology-IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy)

  • Matteo Trimarchi

    (School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy
    Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Department, San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

Oral cancer (OC) is an uncommon malignancy in Western countries, being one of the most common cancers in some high-risk areas of the world. It is a largely preventable cancer, since most of the different risk factors identified, such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and betel nut chewing, are behaviors that increase the likelihood of the disease. Given its high mortality, early diagnosis is of utmost importance. Prevention and the anticipation of diagnosis begin with identification of potentially malignant lesions of the oral mucosa and with local conditions promoting chronic inflammation. Therefore, every lesion must be recognized promptly and treated adequately. The clinical recognition and evaluation of oral mucosal lesions can detect up to 99% of oral cancers/premalignancies. As stated by the World Health Organization, any suspicious lesion that does not subside within two weeks from detection and removal of local causes of irritation must be biopsied. Surgical biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis of oral cancer. Adjunctive tools have been developed and studied to help clinicians in the diagnostic pathway, such as toluidine blue vital staining and autofluorescence imaging. In the near future other methods, i.e., identification of salivary markers of progression may help in reducing mortality due to oral cancer.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvio Abati & Chiara Bramati & Stefano Bondi & Alessandra Lissoni & Matteo Trimarchi, 2020. "Oral Cancer and Precancer: A Narrative Review on the Relevance of Early Diagnosis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:24:p:9160-:d:458710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9160/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/24/9160/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oscar Toralla & Pia Lopez Jornet & Eduardo Pons-Fuster, 2022. "The Effect of an Informative Video upon Anxiety and Stress in Patients Requiring an Oral Biopsy: A Randomized Controlled Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Shih-Wei Yang & Yun-Shien Lee & Pei-Wen Wu & Liang-Che Chang & Cheng-Cheng Hwang, 2021. "A Retrospective Cohort Study of Oral Leukoplakia in Female Patients—Analysis of Risk Factors Related to Treatment Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Yuki Taguchi & Shigeaki Toratani & Kensaku Matsui & Seiya Hayashi & Natsuki Eboshida & Atsuko Hamada & Nanako Ito & Fumitaka Obayashi & Naohiro Kimura & Souichi Yanamoto, 2022. "Evaluation of Oral Mucosal Lesions Using the IllumiScan ® Fluorescence Visualisation Device: Distinguishing Squamous Cell Carcinoma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-10, August.
    4. Xiner Wang & Guo Bai & Jizhi Liang & Qianyang Xie & Zhaohan Chen & Erda Zhou & Meng Li & Xiaoling Wei & Liuyang Sun & Zhiyuan Zhang & Chi Yang & Tiger H. Tao & Zhitao Zhou, 2024. "Gustatory interface for operative assessment and taste decoding in patients with tongue cancer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Anca Maria Pop & Raluca Coroș & Alexandra Mihaela Stoica & Monica Monea, 2021. "Early Diagnosis of Oral Mucosal Alterations in Smokers and E-Cigarette Users Based on Micronuclei Count: A Cross-Sectional Study among Dental Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Nico Roeschmann & Andrea Rau & Marco R. Kesting & Eva Maier & Mayte Buchbender, 2022. "A Prospective Comparative Analysis Regarding the Assessment of Oral Mucosal Disease Using a Validated Questionnaire to Improve the Teaching of Dental Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, August.
    7. repec:eur:ejnmjr:72 is not listed on IDEAS

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:24:p:9160-:d:458710. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.