ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that patients with squamous cell carcinomas derived from oral leukoplakia have a better prognosis than patients with carcinomas that are not associated with oral leukoplakia. AIM: To study the mortality rate of 19 patients with a squamous cell carcinoma derived from pre-existing oral leukoplakia. METHOD: The mortality rate of 19 patients with a proven oral squamous cell carcinoma derived from a pre-existing oral leukoplakia was compared with that of a similar size group of patients with oral carcinoma without a pre-existing oral leukoplakia, being matched for gender, age, smoking habits, use of alcohol, oral subsite and histopathologic grade. Treatment in all patients was primarily by surgical excision. The mortality rates up to 5 years have been computed according to the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULT: No significant difference of the mortality rates up to 5 years of follow-up was observed between the two groups of patients. CONCLUSION: Patients with oral cancer developing from pre-existing oral leukoplakia do not do better than those with de novo oral cancer.
