title: Evaluation of premalignant and malignant lesions by fluorescent light (VELscope).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was the early detection of premalignant and malignant oral soft lesions by fluorescent light (VELscope).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 748 patients were evaluated through clinical and fluorescent light analysis of the entire oral cavity. Any lesion that was detected underwent a surgical excision biopsy as the golden standard for the detection of the lesion's histology; then a comparison was made between the results to assure the efficacy of the fluorescent light analysis outcome.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 9.4% of the lesions detected were abnormal lesions and 83.09% had loss of fluorescent light effect. Based on the use of surgical biopsy, the machine had a sensitivity of 74.1% and a specificity of 96.3%. According to the statistical analysis, the P value was much lower than 0.05, so we can conclude that at 95% confidence level, there was significant agreement between VELscope results and biopsy results. Kappa coefficient value was approximately 0.5, which means that the strength of the agreement was medium.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VELscope can be used as a clinical diagnostic aid in the detection of premalignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity. In addition, it helps in the detection of the borders in both surgical biopsy and surgical excision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
authors.forename: Dania
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sawan
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
authors.forename: Ammar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mashlah
keywords: Biopsy; VELscope; fluorescent light; malignancy; premalignancy; sensitivity; specificity