Are Clinical Predictors of Oral Malignancy Risk Changing? A Sample Study

Objective: Our study assesss the clinical features of oral lesions that require histological examination and patient-reported symptoms to estimate the risk of malignancy and to determine the presence of any altered features. Materials and Methods: Demographic characteristics of 70 patients and clinical features of lesions were analyzed using chi-square test, Fisher’s Exact test of Independence and discriminant function analysis. Results: Margins, lymphadenopathy, patient’s self-awareness of the lesion associated with mass effect, surface texture, colour, ulceration, loss of function and pain were significant parameters indicating the risk of malignancy (p<0.05). Analyses of the parameters related to the high risk of malignancy have led to a statistical model for clinical differentiation of benign lesions from malignancies with an accuracy of 91.4% (p=0.016). The statistical model demonstrated that the most important discriminative features were margins, surface texture, patient’s self-awareness, lymphadenopathy, loss of function, ulceration, colour, and pain, respectively. Conclusion: In our study, age, gender, duration and localization did not anticipate the nature of the lesion. Our statistical model showed that irregular/indistinct margins and surface textures and the presence of lymphadenopathy have a higher risk of malignancy.