Evaluation of Two Non-Invasive Methods, High-Resolution Microendoscopy and Liquid-Based Cytology, for Detection of Oral Precancer

Cancers of the oral cavity (lip, oral tongue, gingivae, floor of mouth, hard palate, and other mouth tissues including buccal mucosa) are amongst the most common worldwide, with an estimated annual burden of over 300,000 incident cases. Most oral cancers (\>75%) are attributable to cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and chewing of areca nut/betel quid with or without tobacco, and very few are related to human papillomavirus infection. Oral cancer incidence geographically tracks with the prevalence of these risk factors and is notably high in the Indian subcontinent (due to tobacco chewing and smoking) and southeast Asia (due to betel quid chewing without tobacco and smoking). The current standard for screening for oral precancer/cancer is visual and tactile examination by an expert for the presence of clinical/visual lesions (leukoplakia, erythroplakia, and oral submucous fibrosis). S