title: Fluorescence visualization efficacy for detecting oral lesions more prone to be dysplastic and potentially malignant disorders: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To analyze the efficacy of fluorescence visualization in early detection of oral early neoplastic processes when used by an inexperienced and an adept oral examiner.
  
  
  METHODS
  A dental student and an expert professional in oral diagnosis examined 15 randomly selected patients using conventional oral examination and fluorescence visualization searching for early signs of epithelial dysplasia and oral potentially malignant disorders. Patients detected with oral lesions in any of examinations were submitted to incisional biopsy for definitive diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Taking histopathologic analysis as Gold Standard, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of inexperienced examiner for detecting both epithelium dysplasia and oral potentially malignant disorders increased when using fluorescence visualization compared to conventional white light examination, matching the same values found for expert professional in oral diagnosis. Furthermore, it was possible to observe discrete increase in the efficacy of expert professional's examination when using fluorescence visualization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates fluorescence visualization is capable of improve inexperienced professionals' efficacy for early detecting oral lesions more prone to be dysplastic and oral potentially malignant disorders.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Institute, Camilo Castelo Branco University- UNICASTELO, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana Estevam
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Simonato
authors.affiliation: Oral Oncology Center, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil. Electronic address: saygotomo@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Saygo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomo
authors.affiliation: Oral Oncology Center, Araçatuba Dental School, UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Glauco Issamu
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Miyahara
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Institute, Camilo Castelo Branco University- UNICASTELO, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Scarparo
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Navarro
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Institute, Camilo Castelo Branco University- UNICASTELO, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Antonio Guillermo Jose Balbin
authors.initials: AGJB
authors.lastname: Villaverde
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003815:Dentists; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005470:Fluorometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013335:Students, Dental
keywords: Diagnosis; Early diagnosis; Mouth neoplasms; Optical imaging; Oral