Análise das características clínicas e microscópicas da leucoplasia oral como fatores preditores do potencial de transformação maligna

Abstract

Among the lesions that affect the oral cavity, there is a group characterized by being associated with a statistically increased risk of developing oral cancer, called Potentially Malignant Oral Disorders (PODMs). Among these changes is Oral Leukoplakia (OL), defined as a predominantly white plaque on the oral mucosa that cannot be characterized clinically or histopathologically as any other lesion/disease, generally associated with tobacco and alcohol consumption and with a specific rate of Progression to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which is among the most common malignant tumors, representing approximately 90% of all cases of cancer in the oral cavity. In this sense, this work aims to evaluate the clinical and microscopic characteristics of OL considering factors that predict the potential for malignant transformation (MT). To this end, a retrospective study of the cases treated and reported as OL was carried out, in which the characteristics relating to the patient, such as sociodemographic aspects and habits, and the lesion, including histopathological characteristics, were confirmed. A prevalence of females compared to males was observed in both clinical subtypes of OL (homogeneous and non-homogeneous). The smoking habit was observed in 62.6% of patients and only 15.5% did not report any type of habit. Conventional oral leukoplakia was more prevalent and non-homogeneous leukoplakia, when present, was more frequently associated with the presentation of epithelial dysplasia. In this study, some associations were found between demographic data and habits, clinical manifestations and histological characteristics in patients with OL. It can be concluded, therefore, that such characteristics can be described as predictive factors of the TM potential of the OL.