OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to perform a clinical and morphological analysis of potentially malignant oral lesions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The clinical and morphological data related to these lesions were obtained from clinical and histopathological records, respectively. RESULTS: Out of 205 cases, the most prevalent lesion was oral leukoplakia (70.7%), followed by actinic cheilitis (16.1%), erythroplakia (9.8%) and erythroleukoplakia (3.4%). There was a significant association between the lesions and gender (p < 0.001). The female gender was the most affected in leukoplakias and erythroplakias. Caucasians were mostly affected in all conditions. As far as anatomical location is concerned, the alveolar ridge was the most prevalent site in oral leukoplakias (21%); the palate was the most affected in erythroplakia (47.4%) and erythroleukoplakia (57.1%). There was no significant difference among the lesions as to age (p > 0.05), although they were more frequent in the 5th, 6th and 7th decades of life. In most cases of erythroplakias and erythroleukoplakias, it was observed that clinical and morphological diagnoses were incompatible. There was a significant association between malignant transformation and lesions (p < 0.001) as the erythroplakia presented a malignization rate of 20%, whereas in leukoplakias the rate was 2.1%. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of potentially malignant oral lesions was similar to other findings in the medical literature, but with some differences in their epidemiological profile. It is important to highlight that these entities require further medical investigation, mainly erythroplakias, which showed high risk of malignization and the highest rate of clinical misdiagnosis.
Potentially malignant oral lesions; Leukoplakia; Erythroplakia; Actinic cheilitis
