Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2015 Nov 1;20 (6):e685-92. Oral leukoplakia
e691
Several papers have been published about the his-
topathological difference between verrucous hyper-
plasia and verrucous carcinoma, still leaving room for
discussion (18,19). In daily practice it is difcult, if not
impossible, to make this distinction in a reproducible
way. Besides, one may question the clinical relevance of
the distinction between these two entities since for both
lesions (surgical) removal is recommended. A pitfall is
that some pathologists may describe these epithelial
changes as being benign, while the behavior of such le-
sions actually is unpredictable.
Discussion and Conclusions
It is well appreciated that a number of aspects of the
presently discussed denition and terminology may not
be equally valid in all parts of the world. A classica-
tion of potentially malignant disorders has been pro-
posed in 2011 from India (20). Apparently, this classi-
cation is not limited to leukoplakia, but also includes
entities such as lichen planus, oral submucous brosis,
nutritional deciencies and some inherited cancer syn-
dromes.
The recommendation is made to modify the present
2005 WHO denition of oral leukoplakia, amongst oth-
ers by adding explicitly the requirement of histopatho-
logic examination in order to obtain a denitive clin-
icopathological diagnosis. As a result, the following
denition is proposed: “A predominantly white patch
or plaque that cannot be characterized clinically or
pathologically as any other disorder; oral leukoplakia
carries an increased risk of cancer development either
in the area of the leukoplakia or elsewhere in the oral
cavity or the head-and-neck region”.
Furthermore, the use of strict diagnostic criteria is rec-
ommended for predominantly white lesions or diseases
for which a possible causative factor has been identied,
e.g. smokers’ lesion, frictional lesion and dental resto-
ration associated lesion. An observation of 4-8 weeks
after removal of the suggested cause seems a practical
one and seems also safe practice, particularly in case of
an asymptomatic leukoplakic disorder. In this respect
one should realize that at the rst visit of a patient with
oral leukoplakia a squamous cell carcinoma may be
present already and one would not run the risk of ob-
serving such event for a period of more than 4-8 weeks.
Even such period is already a long one in case of a sq-
uamous cell carcinoma, a carcinoma in situ or severe
epithelial dysplasia. However, it should be emphasized,
that the presence of such changes is nearly always as-
sociated with symptoms. Therefore, in the presence of
symptoms a biopsy is strongly recommended before
elimination of possibly causative factors and observa-
tion of the result of such elimination.
As is true for almost all pathologies proper communica-
tion between clinicians and pathologists is important,
particularly in the eld of oral potentially malignant
disorders. For instance, some pathologists will deny
a diagnosis of leukoplakia in the absence of epithelial
dysplasia. Also the use of the term “lichenoid dysplasia”
may be the subject of confusion between pathologists
and clinicians.
References
1. Kramer IR, Lucas RB, Pindborg JJ, Sobin LH. Denition of leu-
koplakia and related lesions: an aid to studies on oral precancer. Oral
Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1978;46:518-39.
2. Pindborg JJ, Reichart PA, Smith CJ, van der Waal I. World Health
Organization International Histological Classication of Tumours.
Histological Typing of Cancer and Precancer of the Oral Mucosa.
Second Edition ed. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag.
1997.P. 1-85.
3. van der Waal I, Axéll T. Oral leukoplakia: a proposal for uniform
reporting. Oral Oncol. 2002;38:521-6.
4. Brouns EREA, Baart JA, Bloemena E, Karagozoglu KH, van der
Waal I. The relevance of uni-form reporting in oral leukoplakia: De-
nition, certainty factor and staging based on experience with 275
patients. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2013;18:e19-26.
5. Warnakulasuriya S, Johnson NW, van der Waal I. Nomenclature
and classication of potentially malignant disorders of the oral mu-
cosa. J Oral Pathol Med. 2007;36:575-80.
6. Pindborg JJ, Jolst O, Renstrup G, Roed-Petersen B. Studies in oral
leukoplakia: a preliminary report on the period pervalence of malig-
nant transformation in leukoplakia based on a follow-up study of 248
patients. J Am Dent Assoc. 1968;76:767-71.
7. Chi AC, Lambert PR, Pan Y, Li R, Vo DT, Edwards E et al. Is
alveolar ridge keratosis a true leukoplakia? A clinicopathologic com-
parison of 2,153 lesions. J Am Dent Assoc. 2007;138:641-51.
8. Natarajan E, Woo SB. Benign alveolar ridge keratosis (oral lichen
simplex chronicus): A distinct clinicopathologic entity. J Am Acad
Dermatol. 2008;58:151-7.
9. Mignogna MD, Fortuna G, Leuci S, Adamo D, Siano M, Makary
C et al. Frictional keratoses on the facial attached gingiva are rare
clinical ndings and do not belong to the category of leu-koplakia. J
Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2011;69:1367-74.
10. Van der Waal I. Greenspan lesion is a better term than oral
“hairy” leukoplakia. J Oral Pathol Med. 1996;25:144.
11. Warnakulasuriya S, Dietrich T, Bornstein MM, Casals PE, Pres-
haw PM, Walter C et al. Oral health risks of tobacco use and effects
of cessation. Int Dent J. 2010;60:7-30.
12. Hansen LS, Olson JA, Silverman S. Proliferative verrucous leu-
koplakia. A long-term study of thirty patients. Oral Surg Oral Med
Oral Pathol. 1985;60:285-98.
13. Van der Waal I, Reichart PA. Oral proliferative verrucous leuko-
plakia revisited. Oral Oncol. 2008;44:719-21.
14. Warnakulasuriya S, Reibel J, Bouquot J, Dabelsteen E. Oral
epithelial dysplasia classication systems: predictive value, uti-
lity, weaknesses and scope for improvement. J Oral Pathol Med.
2008;37:127-33.
15. Abbey LM, Kaugars GE, Gunsolley JC, Burns JC, Page DG,
Svirsky JA, et al. Intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability in the
diagnosis of oral epithelial dysplasia. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pa-
thol Oral Radiol Endod. 1995;80:188-91.
16. Kujan O, Oliver RJ, Khattab A, Roberts SA, Thakker N, Sloan
P. Evaluation of a new binary system of grading oral epithelial
dysplasia for prediction of malignant transformation. Oral Oncol
2006;42:987-93.
17. Krutchkoff DJ, Eisenberg E. Lichenoid dysplasia: a distinct histo-
pathologic entity. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol. 1985;60:308-15.
18. Shear M, Pindborg JJ. Verrucous hyperplasia of the oral mucosa.
Cancer. 1980;46:1855-62.
19. Murrah VA, Batsakis JG. Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia and
verrucous hyperplasia. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1994;103:660-3.