title: Potential of optical coherence tomography for early diagnosis of oral malignancies.
abstract: With nearly 1,500,000 new patients diagnosed every year in the USA, cancer poses a considerable challenge to healthcare today. Oral cancer is responsible for a sizeable portion of deaths due to cancer, primarily because it is diagnosed at a late stage when the prognosis is poor. Current methods for diagnosing oral cancer need to be augmented by better early detection, monitoring and screening modalities. A new approach is needed that provides real-time, accurate, noninvasive diagnosis. The results of early clinical trials using in vivo optical coherence tomography for the diagnosis of oral dysplasia and malignancy are encouraging.
authors.affiliation: Beckman Laser Institute, 1002 Health Sciences Road East, University of California, Irvine, CA 92612, USA. mdecoro@uci.edu
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DeCoro
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilder-Smith
mesh_terms: D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology