Potential use of optical coherence tomography in oral potentially malignant disorders: in-vivo case series study

Evidence confirms that the use of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in oral medicine can be a reliable aid for the diagnosis and management of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs). Several authors described the ability of this system to detect the structural changes of the epithelia involved by the OPMDs. The purpose of this case series is to provide a suggestion for interpretation of OCT images from different OPMDs, compared to OCT images of healthy tissues.

A sample of 11 OPMDs patients was recruited and analyzed with OCT. The images obtained were then compared with an OCT repertoire image. In this work the reflectance degree was considered, together with the analysis of the increased/decreased thicknesses of the various layers. Keratin Layer (KL), Epithelial Layer (EP), Lamina Propria (LP), Basal Membrane (BM) assessment, for each lesion, was performed.

OCT measurements of KL, EP and LP layers, together with BM assessing, should aid the physicians to recognize and describe different oral lesions, relating them to the corresponding oral pathology.

More studies like this, on larger samples, are needed to validate the results and provide, in the future, a kind of manual that could guide clinicians to correctly interpret the OCT images in relation to the causing pathologies.

The present trial has been registered with ISRCTN (#17,893,224).