title: Scoring system for monitoring oral lichenoid lesions: a preliminary study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Currently, there is no universal system for scoring the severity of lichenoid lesions of the oral cavity that is easy to use, reproducible and that is representative of the different clinical forms of the disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study, a scoring system was developed to monitor the severity of oral lichen planus (OLP) and chronic oral graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Six patients with OLP and three with cGVHD were studied. This scoring system was utilized to compare the severity of disease within and between patients. Three investigators independently reviewed photographs taken from each patient and scored the severity of disease. Inter and intra-observer consistency was evaluated using the Spearman rank correlation analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intra-observer reliability was 0.98 (Spearman correlation coefficient) and inter-observer reliability was 1.00.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This scoring system is easy-to-use, reproducible, representative of the severity of the disease and useful for monitoring OLP and cGVHD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Division of Oral Medicine, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, 188 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-5701, USA.
authors.forename: Siribang-On
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Piboonniyom
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Treister
authors.forename: Waranuch
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pitiphat
authors.forename: Sook-Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Woo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D023861:Photography, Dental; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric