Incidence of oral carcinoma in patients with leukoplakia of the oral mucosa

Abstract

A series of 782 patients with a clinical diagnosis of oral or lip leukoplakia was followed with regular checks for 1 to 44 years (mean 12 years). Oral carcinoma developed in 2.4% of the patients in 10 years and in 4% in 20 years. The prevalence in the various age groups was about 50 to 100 times greater than for the Swedish population according to the 1959 Cancer Registry. It was primarily the small group of cases of leukoplakia in persons not using tobacco that were responsible for the excess morbidity from oral carcinoma; among tobacco users with leukoplakia the figure was considerably lower. There is no evidence the the incidence of oral carcinoma can be diminished by surgical removal of the leukoplakia but this does not mean that the operation should be abandoned, mainly for histologic diagnosis. The prevalence of other malignant tumors than oral and lip carcinoma in cases of oral leukoplakia did not differ from that of malignant tumors in the Swedish population as a whole. Copyright © 1967 American Cancer Society