title: A retrospective clinicopathological study on oral lichen planus and malignant transformation: analysis of 518 cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of a relatively large cohort of patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) from eastern China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 518 patients with histologically confirmed OLP in a long-term follow-up period (6 months-21.5 years) were retrospectively reviewed in our clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 518 patients, 353 females and 165 males were identified. The average age at diagnosis was 46.3 years (range 9-81 years) with the buccal mucosa being the most common site (87.8%). At initial presentation, white lichen and red lichen was seen in 52.3% and 47.7% patients, respectively. Of these, 5 (0.96%) patients previously diagnosed clinically and histopathologically as OLP developed oral cancer. All of them were the females with no a history of smoking or alcohol use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinical features of eastern Chinese OLP patients were elucidated. Notably, approximately 1% of OLP developed into cancer, which provides further evidence of potentially malignant nature of OLP.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Department of Oral Mucosal Diseases, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lai-Kuan
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jin-Qiu
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Guo-Yao
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Zeng-Tong
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017676:Lichen Planus, Oral / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult