Usefulness of fluorescence photography for diagnosis of oral cancer.

This study was carried out to evaluate the validity of fluorescence photography as an adjunctive diagnostic method for oral cancer. Fluorescence photography was performed on 130 oral lesions in 130 patients. Lesions showing red, orange or pink fluorescence on the photographs were defined as positive, while all other lesions were considered negative. Seventy-two (91.1%) of 79 carcinomas and 6 (85.7%) of 7 epithelial dysplasias were judged as positive, whereas two (4.5%) of 44 benign lesions that were not dysplasias showed positive fluorescence. Sixty-nine (94.5%) of 73 squamous cell carcinomas showed positive fluorescence. These results suggest that fluorescence photography is useful as an adjunctive diagnostic method for oral squamous cell carcinoma.