Dentistry and Stomatology-IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy.
School of Medicine, University Vita-Salute, 20132 Milano, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 8;17(24):9160. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249160.
Oral cancer (OC) is an uncommon malignancy in Western countries, being one of the most common cancers in some high-risk areas of the world. It is a largely preventable cancer, since most of the different risk factors identified, such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and betel nut chewing, are behaviors that increase the likelihood of the disease. Given its high mortality, early diagnosis is of utmost importance. Prevention and the anticipation of diagnosis begin with identification of potentially malignant lesions of the oral mucosa and with local conditions promoting chronic inflammation. Therefore, every lesion must be recognized promptly and treated adequately. The clinical recognition and evaluation of oral mucosal lesions can detect up to 99% of oral cancers/premalignancies. As stated by the World Health Organization, any suspicious lesion that does not subside within two weeks from detection and removal of local causes of irritation must be biopsied. Surgical biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis of oral cancer. Adjunctive tools have been developed and studied to help clinicians in the diagnostic pathway, such as toluidine blue vital staining and autofluorescence imaging. In the near future other methods, i.e., identification of salivary markers of progression may help in reducing mortality due to oral cancer.
口腔癌（OC）在西方国家较为少见，却是世界上某些高危地区最常见的癌症之一。由于大多数已确定的不同风险因素，如吸烟、饮酒和咀嚼槟榔，都是增加患病可能性的行为，因此该病在很大程度上是可以预防的。鉴于其高死亡率，早期诊断至关重要。预防和诊断的前提是识别口腔黏膜的潜在恶性病变和促进慢性炎症的局部状况。因此，必须迅速识别并充分治疗每一个病变。口腔黏膜病变的临床识别和评估可以检测到高达 99%的口腔癌/癌前病变。正如世界卫生组织所述，任何可疑病变在检测到并消除局部刺激源后两周内不消退，必须进行活检。手术活检仍然是诊断口腔癌的金标准。已经开发和研究了辅助工具来帮助临床医生进行诊断，例如甲苯胺蓝活体染色和自发荧光成像。在不久的将来，其他方法，即识别唾液进展标志物，可能有助于降低口腔癌死亡率。
