Correlation between clinical and pathological features of oral lichen planus A retrospective observational study

Abstract

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a common, chronic, inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin. The aim of this study is to determine the correlation of the histopathological features with clinical aspects and variants of OLP. We have retrospectively studied a group of 59 adult patients with confirmed clinical and histopathological diagnosis of OLP from the Oral Pathology Unit of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Clinical parameters: age, gender, location of the lesions, clinical type, toxic habits, and concomitant treatments were evaluated. Histopathologically, the epithelial response (hyperplasia vs atrophy), presence of ulceration, degree of interface lesion and distribution, intensity, and composition of the inflammatory infiltrate were analyzed. Patients treated with several systemic drugs had more atrophic/erosive forms of OLP (P=.019). Plasma cells were found more commonly in cases showing deep inflammatory involvement of the connective subepithelial tissue than in those where inflammation was only superficially located (P