title: Prevalence of fungal hyphae in potentially malignant lesions and conditions-does its occurrence play a role in epithelial dysplasia?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral cancer is a major public health problem in India. A key factor that has led to lack of improvement in prognosis of oral cancer over the years, is delay in diagnosis and treatment. In many instances, a significant proportion of oral squamous cell carcinomas develop from premalignant lesions and conditions. Identification of such lesions and conditions is very important in order to prevent malignant transformation. The role of fungal infections has been studied and holds promise as an indicator to predict malignant transformation. So we designed a study to analyze the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of premalignant lesions and conditions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine and compare the prevalence of fungal hyphae in biopsies of patients with clinically diagnosed cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions and to assess the possible association between the degree of epithelial dysplasia and presence or absence of fungal hyphae.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinically suspected and histopathologically diagnosed 70 cases of potentially malignant lesions and conditions (29 leukoplakia, 16 submucous fibrosis and 25 lichen planus) made up the study group. Three tissue sections (5μm) of each were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H and E), periodic acid-Schiff's reagent (PAS) and Grocott's methenamine silver (GMS) and evaluated for fungal hyphae. The data collected was statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The estimated prevalence of fungal hyphae in cases with or without dysplasia in leukoplakia was 41.4%, lichen planus 36% and submucous fibrosis 25%. There was a significant association between degree of epithelial dysplasia with presence or absence of fungal hyphae in all the study groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Presence of fungal hyphae in potentially malignant lesions and conditions may prove to be a useful indicator in predicting malignant transformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Vasantdada Patil Dental College and Hospital, Sangli, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Bhagyalaxmi Praveen
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Hongal
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Dental College and Hospital, Lohegaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Venkatesh V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Dental College and Hospital, Lohegaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Revati Shailesh
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Deshmukh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Vasantdada Patil Dental College and Hospital, Sangli, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Priya Shirish
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil Dental School Lohegaon, Lohegaon, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Prasad Prakash
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Karande
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Dental College and Hospital, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Adil S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shroff
keywords: Epithelial dysplasia; fungal hyphae; malignant transformation; potentially malignant lesions and conditions