Evaluation of efficacy of chemiluminescence for diagnosis of leukoplakia

ObjectiveLeukoplakia is the most common potentially malignant disorder preceding oral cancer. Chemiluminescence has been developed as an adjunct to conventional examination for the diagnosis of these potentially malignant disorders. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of chemiluminescence in the diagnosis of leukoplakia and to compare the results with histopathological examination.Study designA total of 50 patients with leukoplakia were included from the outpatients attending the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Dental Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. These patients were subjected to conventional oral examination followed by chemiluminescent examination with Vizilite (Zila, Fort Collins, CO, USA) and biopsy for histopathological confirmation.ResultsThe sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of chemiluminescence were 93.75%, 55.56%, 78.95%, and 83.3%, respectively. The overall accuracy of chemiluminescence was 80%. A statistically significant association was observed between histopathology results and chemiluminescence results.ConclusionAlthough it is an easy, safe, minimal time consuming, and noninvasive technique, it has only adjunctive utility and it does not replace biopsy for the diagnosis of leukoplakia.