Review

Application of cytology and molecular biology in diagnosing premalignant or malignant oral lesions

Ravi Mehrotra¹ , Anurag Gupta² , Mamta Singh³ and Rahela Ibrahim⁴

¹  Associate Professor Department of Pathology, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, India

²  Postgraduate Student Department of Pathology, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, India

³  Professor and Head Department of Pathology, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, India

⁴  Research Fellow Department of Pathology, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, India

author email corresponding author email

Molecular Cancer 2006, 5:11doi:10.1186/1476-4598-5-11

Published:	23 March 2006

Abstract

Early detection of a premalignant or cancerous oral lesion promises to improve the survival and the morbidity of patients suffering from these conditions. Cytological study of oral cells is a non-aggressive technique that is well accepted by the patient, and is therefore an attractive option for the early diagnosis of oral cancer, including epithelial atypia and squamous cell carcinoma. However its usage has been limited so far due to poor sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing oral malignancies. Lately it has re-emerged due to improved methods and it's application in oral precancer and cancer as a diagnostic and predictive method as well as for monitoring patients. Newer diagnostic techniques such as "brush biopsy" and molecular studies have been developed. Recent advances in cytological techniques and novel aspects of applications of scraped or exfoliative cytology for detecting these lesions and predicting their progression or recurrence are reviewed here.