Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Aug;29(4):187-90.

The usefulness of toluidine staining as a diagnostic tool for precancerous and cancerous oropharyngeal and oral cavity lesions

E Allegra  1 , N Lombardo, L Puzzo, A Garozzo
Affiliations

The usefulness of toluidine staining as a diagnostic tool for precancerous and cancerous oropharyngeal and oral cavity lesions

E Allegra et al. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Ital. 2009 Aug.

Abstract
in English, Italian

Toluidine blue stain is used as a marker to differentiate lesions at high risk of progression in order to improve early diagnosis of oropharyngeal carcinomas. This study focused on 45 oral mucosal lesions in 32 patients (13 female, 19 male). In 9 cases, multiple biopsies were collected. Of the 45 lesions examined, 26 (57.0%) were defined clinically benign, while 19 (42.3%) were defined as suspected lesions (premalignant or malignant). According to the clinical examination, the sensitivity was 53% (16/30) and for toluidine blue staining 96.2% (26/27) (p = 0.0007). The specificity was 80% (12/15) for clinical examination and 77.7% (14/15) for toluidine blue staining (p = 0.79). In conclusion toluidine blue stain has been shown to be a reliable aid when clinical examination is unable to differentiate lesions at high risk of progression and then it improves early diagnosis for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer.

Allo scopo di migliorare la diagnosi precoce dei carcinomi del cavo orale e dell’orofaringe abbiamo ritenuto opportuno verificare l’attendibilità della colorazione con toluidina come marker per differenziare le lesioni ad alto rischio di progressione. Lo studio ha preso in considerazione 45 lesioni del cavo orale e dell’orofaringe che riguardavano 32 pazienti. In 9 casi venivano eseguite biopsie multiple, 19 pazienti erano di sesso maschile e 13 di sesso femminile. Le lesioni definite clinicamente benigne erano 26/45 (57,0%) mentre 19 (42,3%) erano definite sospette (premaligne o maligne). Comparando la valutazione dell’esame obiettivo e della colorazione con toluidina delle lesioni con i risultati dell’esame istologico la sensibilità della toluidina è risultata essere più attendibile rispetto all’esame obiettivo, con una differenza statisticamente significativa. La valutazione della specificità non ha mostrato invece differenze statisticamente significative. La colorazione con toluidina sembra dare un contributo significativo nei casi in cui l’esame obiettivo non è sufficiente a differenziare lesioni ad alto rischio di progressione.

Keywords: Malignant tumours; Oral cavity; Oropharynx; Precancerous lesions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Jemal A, Thimas A, Murray T, Thun M. Cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin 2002;52:181-2. - PubMed
    1. Woolgar JA, Scott J, Vaughan ED, Brown JS, West CR, Rogers S. Survival, metastasis and recurrence of oral cancer in relation to pathological features. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1995;77:325-31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Oral Precancerous Lesions. Definition of leukoplakia and related lesions: an aid to studies on oral precancer. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol 1978;46:518-39. - PubMed
    1. Banoczy J, Sugar L. Longitudinal studies on oral leukoplakia. J Oral Pathol 1972;1:265-9. - PubMed
    1. Chiesa F, Tradati N, Sala L, Costa L, Podrecca S, Baracchi P, et al. Follow-up of oral leukoplakia after carbon dioxide laser surgery. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1990;116:177-80. - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources