Open AccessThe role of interventional surgery in oral potentially malignant disorders
Author(s) -
Peter Thomson
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
faculty dental journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2042-6860
pISSN - 2042-6852
DOI - 10.1308/rcsfdj.2014.5.2.84
Subject(s) - medicine , malignant transformation , cancer , malignant disease , incidence (geometry) , intensive care medicine , disease , lesion , dermatology , surgery , pathology , physics , optics
Oral potentially malignant disorders are mucosal diseases with a significantly increased risk of squamous carcinoma development – a lethal and deforming disease with rising incidence, especially in young people. Despite the ability to recognise pre-cancer disorders in patients, clinicians remain unable to predict individual mucosal lesion behaviour or quantify the risk of malignant transformation. No clear management guidelines exist and the available scientific literature is unable to answer the fundamental question: does early diagnosis and interventional management treat pre-cancer effectively and prevent malignant transformation?