Are the imaging-based techniques for early diagnosis of oral potentially malignant lesions effective?

Design The study was a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement and the guidelines from the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions.Data sources Literature searches of free text and MeSH terms were performed using Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Library (from 2000 to 30 June 2020). The search strategy was: ("oral screening devices" or "autofluorescence" or "chemiluminescence" or "optical imaging" or "imaging technique") and ("oral dysplasia" or "oral malignant lesions" or "oral precancerosis").Data analysis After identification of 1,282 potential articles, an analysis applying the eligibility criteria to the research identified 43 articles for qualitative evaluation and 34 for quantitative analysis.Results The results presented were inconsistent, both in the whole and in technique groups. There was evidence of high risk of bias in the evaluated studies. Moreover, the results were homogeneous across studies, which makes it challenging to carry out a reliable comparison of measures like specificity or positive/negative predictive values.Conclusions Imaging-based techniques for early diagnosis of potentially malignant oral lesions must improve technology and accuracy. In addition, none of the evaluated methods can substitute the oral biopsy.