RESUMO
Background: Oral leukoplakia, usually white changes in the oral mucosa, is one of the most common conditions affecting the oral cavity. Oral leukoplakia can occur anywhere in the mouth and is usually asymptomatic. Clinical diagnosis is reliant on visual inspection and manual palpation. It has a global prevalence of 2.6% and a malignant transformation rate of 0.13-34%. In India, OL has a higher prevalence (0.2-5.2%) but a lower a malignant transformation rate (0.13-10%). Methodology: It was a randomized control trial in which study was conducted on clinically diagnosed 300 oral leukoplakia patients. All patients were randomly categorized in three groups of 100 each. Group-A: Patients were given commercially available curcumin 500 mg. daily orally. Group-B: Patients were given 4 mg of oral lycopene daily. Group-C: Patients were treated with 4 mg of lycopene + 500 mg curcumin daily by oral route. After recording the pre-treatment clinical findings, all the participants were evaluated regularly after 30 days, 60 days and 90 days of active treatment and once in a month for another 3 months of post-treatment follow-up and to evaluate concomitant medication, lesion(s), compliance, and adverse events. The clinical response was evaluated by bi-dimensional measurement of the lesions and color photography. Safety assessment measures: Physical examination and laboratory tests were performed at baseline, and every 30 days for 3 months after randomization. Result: Number of participants cured after treatment with oral curcumin was 51%. Participants took lycopene tablets showed 63% cure rate and 72% participants cured after treatment with combination curcumin and lycopene. Conclusion: Results showed that curcumin, lycopene, and a combination of the two are effective in the treatment of oral leukoplakia. When compared, we found that lycopene is a better nutraceutical as compared to curcumin. When both nutraceuticals were given to the participants, they showed better results than single nutraceuticals when the data were analyzed after 90 days of treatment. There is a significant difference in the response of curcumin and combinations of both nutraceuticals, although the difference between lycopene and combinations of curcumin and lycopene is insignificant.
RESUMO
The purpose of the current article was to evaluate the recently published researches on the use of lycopene and curcumin in oral leukoplakia (OL) and oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). A comprehensive review of the current researches enveloping PubMed, Ovid, and Cochrane was made using the keywords [(Lycopene) OR (Curcumin) AND (Leukoplakia OR OL OR OSF OR OSMF OR OSF OR Submucous Fibrosis)]. We included only randomized control trials and in the English language. The search covers the data from 1994 to August 2020. Six studies (2 of OL and 4 of OSF) finally qualified are included in the study for the qualitative analysis of the result. Out of these six studies, four were found having high risk, one with unclear risk and one with low risk. Only one study came out as finally suitable for the quantitative analysis of the result. A total of 90 participants were included in this review, with a mean age of 32 with a range of 17-60 years. Out of 90 participants, 70 were male and 20 were female. It is evident from the result of this study that the use of oral curcumin and lycopene has significant improvement in the mouth opening, burning sensation, and cheek flexibility in comparison to the placebo. The use of oral curcumin and lycopene appears to be effective and safe in the treatment of OL and OSF but to read the result of use of oral curcumin and lycopene in OL caution should be taken because of bias.
