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Oral leukoplakia

Última revisión: 17 Aug 2025
Última actualización: 25 Jan 2023

Resumen

Definición

Anamnesis y examen

Principales factores de diagnóstico

  • presence of risk factors
  • homogeneous white plaques
  • other causes for white lesions excluded
  • non-homogeneous appearance
Todos los datos

Otros factores de diagnóstico

  • male sex
  • age >40 years
Todos los datos

Factores de riesgo

  • tobacco use
  • alcohol use
  • areca nut (betel quid) use
  • chronic candidiasis
  • genetic predisposition
  • immunosuppression
  • Fanconi's anaemia
  • sunlight exposure
  • HPV infection
  • Treponema pallidum infection (syphilis)
Todos los datos

Pruebas diagnósticas

Primeras pruebas diagnósticas para solicitar

  • incisional biopsy
Todos los datos

Pruebas diagnósticas que deben considerarse

  • brush biopsy
  • autoantibodies for anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), double-stranded DNA, and Smith antigen
  • Treponema pallidum serology
Todos los datos

Pruebas emergentes

  • chemiluminescent spectroscopy
  • molecular and chromosomal markers
  • photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA-PDD)
  • vital staining with toluidine blue

Algoritmo de tratamiento

Agudo

all patients

Colaboradores

Autores

Saman Warnakulasuriya, DSc, BDS, PhD

Emeritus Professor

Dental Institute at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Hospitals

Department of Oral Medicine

King's College London

London

UK

Divulgaciones

SW is an author of several references cited in this topic.

Agradecimientos

Professor Saman Warnakulasuriya would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr James Sciubba and the late Professor Crispian Scully for their contributions to this topic.

Divulgaciones

JS is an author of some references cited in this topic.

Revisores por pares

Finn Praetorius, DDS

Oral Pathologist

Department of Oral Pathology

School of Dentistry

University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Denmark

Divulgaciones

FP declares that he has no competing interests.

Isaac Van der Waal, DDS, PhD

Professor and Head

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/Oral Pathology

Vrije Universiteit Medical Center

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Divulgaciones

IVdW declares that he has no competing interests.

Michaell Huber, DDS

Associate Professor

Head

Division of Oral Medicine

Department of Dental Diagnostic Science

Dental School

University of Texas Health Science Center

San Antonio

TX

Divulgaciones

MH declares that he has no competing interests.

Peer reviewer acknowledgements

BMJ Best Practice topics are updated on a rolling basis in line with developments in evidence and guidance. The peer reviewers listed here have reviewed the content at least once during the history of the topic.

Disclosures

Peer reviewer affiliations and disclosures pertain to the time of the review.

Referencias

Nuestros equipos internos de evidencia y editoriales colaboran con colaboradores expertos internacionales y revisores pares para garantizar que brindemos acceso a la información más clínicamente relevante posible.

Artículos principales

Lingen MW, Abt E, Agrawal N, et al. Evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the evaluation of potentially malignant disorders in the oral cavity: a report of the American Dental Association. J Am Dent Assoc. 2017 Oct;148(10):712-27;e10.Texto completo  Resumen

Lodi G, Franchini R, Warnakulasuriya S, et al. Interventions for treating oral leukoplakia to prevent oral cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Jul 29;(7):CD001829.Texto completo  Resumen

Artículos de referencia

Una lista completa de las fuentes a las que se hace referencia en este tema está disponible para los usuarios con acceso a todo BMJ Best Practice.

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