Nicolas-Rodriguez Elena, Pons-Fuster Eduardo, López-Jornet Pia
Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, Hospital Morales Meseguer, Clínica Odontológica, Marqués del Los Vélez s/n, 30008 Murcia, Spain.
Departamento de Anatomía Humana y Psicobiología, Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, Biomedical Research Institute (IMIB-Arrixaca), University of Murcia Spain, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
J Clin Med. 2024 Jan 12;13(2):435. doi: 10.3390/jcm13020435.
Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin that affects the skin and mucous membranes. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of infrared thermography (IRT) as a diagnostic tool in patients with oral lichen planus (OLP), as well as disturbances in taste perception, in cases with and without tongue involvement. A case-control study was carried out in a sample of 87 patients divided into three groups: healthy individuals (controls; = 43), OLP patients without involvement of the tongue ( = 24), and OLP patients with involvement of the tongue ( = 20). The patient symptoms and the clinical characteristics of the lesions were assessed. Four thermal images of the tongue were obtained using IRT: dorsum, right and left lateral surface, and tip of the tongue. General taste perception capacity and subjective sweet, acid, salty, and bitter sensation were evaluated in all three groups. There were no statistically significant differences in the IRT values among the three groups ( ≥ 0.05). In the OLP patients with involvement of the tongue, significantly higher values were observed in the mixed forms of the disease ( = 0.032). The OLP patients with and without involvement of the tongue showed no significant alterations in taste sensation ( = 0.69). IRT may serve as a complementary tool for assessing the activity of OLP with involvement of the tongue. However, more research is needed in this field.
口腔扁平苔藓（OLP）是一种自身免疫性起源的慢性炎症性疾病，可累及皮肤和黏膜。本研究的目的是评估红外热成像（IRT）作为口腔扁平苔藓（OLP）患者诊断工具的有效性，以及在有或无舌部受累的情况下味觉感知的紊乱情况。对87名患者进行了一项病例对照研究，这些患者分为三组：健康个体（对照组；n = 43）、无舌部受累的OLP患者（n = 24）和有舌部受累的OLP患者（n = 20）。评估了患者的症状和病变的临床特征。使用IRT获取了四张舌部热图像：舌背、右侧和左侧舌面以及舌尖。对所有三组患者的总体味觉感知能力以及主观的甜、酸、咸和苦味感觉进行了评估。三组之间的IRT值无统计学显著差异（P≥0.05）。在有舌部受累的OLP患者中，疾病的混合形式观察到显著更高的值（P = 0.032）。有和无舌部受累的OLP患者在味觉方面均未显示出显著改变（P = 0.69）。IRT可作为评估有舌部受累的OLP活动情况的辅助工具。然而，该领域还需要更多的研究。
