The detection of oral pre- malignant lesions with an autofluorescence based imaging system (VELscope™) - a single blinded clinical evaluation

OBJECTIVE: The disease specific five-year survival rate especially for patients with advanced oral cancer has not improved significantly over the period of time. The most effective way of combating this dilemma is an early detection, diagnosis and eradication of early-stage lesions and their precursors. The use of VELscope® using an autofluorescence as a diagnostic tool might be useful in early detection of oral malignant lesions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: 120 patients with suspicious oral premalignant lesions were examined with two examination methods. They were randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 was examined conventional with white-light and group 2 was examined additionally to the white-light-examination with an autofluorescence visualization device, VELscope®. Biopsies were obtained from all suspicious areas identified in both examination groups (n = 52). The diagnostic strategies were compared regarding sensitivity and specificity.

RESULTS: Based upon the result, use of the VELscope® leads to a higher sensitivity (22.0%), but regarding specificity the additional use of the VELscope® is inferior (8.4%).

CONCLUSION: The VELscope device is a simple, non-invasive test of the oral mucosa, which can help the experienced clinician to find oral precursor malignant lesions.