title: Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia: recognition and differentiation from conventional leukoplakia and mimics.
abstract: The majority of conventional leukoplakia remains constant and only a subset progress to high-grade dysplasia or invasive carcinoma. A less recognized form known as proliferative verrucous leukoplakia (PVL) represents a unique progressive and elusive variant. Identifying patients with this form can only be achieved through the keen clinical observation of the temporal gross and histologic progression in individual patients with squamous cell carcinoma. The difficulty in the early diagnosis of PVL stems from the overlapping clinical and pathologic features with conventional multifocal leukoplakia with dysplasia. We present the current view on the clinicopathologic and biological characteristics of PVL and discuss their diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gillenwater
authors.forename: Nadarajah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vigneswaran
authors.forename: Hanadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fatani
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saintigny
authors.forename: Adel K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: El-Naggar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D018289:Carcinoma, Verrucous / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007972:Leukoplakia, Oral / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000469:parasitology*
keywords: lichen planus; oral leukoplakia; squamous dysplasia; squamous tumorigenesis; verrucous hyperplasia