Sensitivity and specificity of oral brush biopsy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the advantage of computer-assisted analysis of the oral brush biopsy compared with synchronous scalpel biopsy in the early detection of oral lesions. In this prospective, randomized, controlled study, brush and scalpel biopsies were performed on 75 patients. Six patients had to be excluded due to inadequate results, and 43 were shown to have dysplastic epithelium, 15 carcinoma, and 11 suspicious lesions. Therefore, the sensitivity for the detection of abnormal cells by means of OralCDx was 52%, specificity 29%, and the positive predictive value 63%. According to our results, the use of oral brush biopsy as a standardized, minimally invasive method of screening oral lesions should be reconsidered.