Evaluating an alternative cost effective protocol to screen and detect oral pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions

Abstract

Background: Oral cancer is one the leading causes of cancer mortality nowadays, and early screening of pre-cancerous lesions is a high priority for reducing both morbidity and mortality associated with oral cancers. Methods: The study group composed of subjects from West Bengal to evaluate the protocol for the detection of precancerous and cancerous lesions of the oral mucosa. Results: Toluidine blue, Cytology with Leishman Giemsa stain and Histopathology methods from biopsy was combined to develop a screening protocol named Mukherjee Bose protocol. The sensitivity of this tests holds nearly at 96.2% and specificity at 77.7% in this study. The average cost to screen patients by this method was reported very cheap. By combining this three very sensitive techniques in the study were considered to make the protocol reaching a very high-level of sensitivity and efficiency. Conclusions: The purpose of this article is to initially implement and evaluate a rapid and cost effective protocol by using present diagnostic aids used in daily practice for screening pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions.