Histological spectrum of oral leukoplakia; a clinicopathological perspective

ABSTRACT

Histological analysis of clinically diagnosed cases of oral leukoplakia for assessment of malignant potential. Observational descriptive study. Biopsies of 113 cases of clinically established oral leukoplakia were assessed for clinical appearance and correlated with histology to determine the frequency of epithelial dysplasia and carcinoma, at Department of Pathology, Dow Medical College, Dr. Ehsanullah's laboratories Pvt. limited and Dr. Tahir laboratory, Taj Medical Complex, Hamdard University Hospital during the period of 2003-2006. The histological spectrum of 113 cases revealed hyperplastic epithelium predominantly in 85 [75.22%] cases. 14[12.38%] cases displayed mild to moderate dysplasia. Severe dysplasia I carcinoma in situ was noted in 5[4.4%] cases and microinvasive carcinoma was detected in 6[5.3%] cases. This study confirms that oral leukoplakia is a precancerous lesion and that certain clinicopathological characteristics indicate greater risk to warrant prompt biopsy examination and aggressive management