Correlation between clinical and pathologic diagnosis in oral leukoplakia in 54 patients.

The main aim of this study was to establish a correlation between the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of oral leukoplakia with a particular focus on epithelial dysplasia. We reviewed the medical records of 54 patients with a clinical and histologic diagnosis of oral leukoplakia who were seen at our center between 2002 and 2008. We found that the disease was more common in men (59.3%) than in women and we also detected a significantly greater prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption in men. The mean age of the patients was 62.57 years. Three patients had been histologically diagnosed with invasive cancer and 4 with carcinoma in situ. The most common lesion site for leukoplakias with severe dysplasia and invasive carcinoma was the lateral aspect of the tongue, the floor of the mouth, and the gums. It is therefore essential to include these sites in the clinical examination to aid early diagnosis. A higher degree of dysplasia should be suspected in non-homogeneous leukoplakias. While dysplasia is associated with a greater risk of malignant transformation, it is also important to monitor leukoplakias without dysplastic features as they can occasionally be the site of carcinoma.