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
. 1988 May;17(5):219-25.
doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.1988.tb01528.x.

Malignant development of lichen planus-affected oral mucosa

P Holmstrup  1 , J J Thorn, J Rindum, J J Pindborg
Affiliations

Malignant development of lichen planus-affected oral mucosa

P Holmstrup et al. J Oral Pathol. 1988 May.

Abstract

The present report describes malignant development in oral lichen planus (OLP) among 611 patients (409 F, 202 M) followed for periods from 1-26 years (mean: 7.5). During follow-up, 9 patients (1.5%), 8 women (1.9%) and 1 man (0.5%) developed oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) in areas of lichen planus lesions. The age of the patients at diagnosis of carcinoma ranged from 56-79 years (mean: 70.4) and the length of follow-up before malignant development ranged from 4.9-24 years (mean: 10.1). The estimated number expected to develop oral cancer in a sample of the general Danish population of similar size, age distribution and follow-up was 0.18 (0.11 F, 0.07 M) i.e., OLP cases showed a 50-fold increase (F = 70- M = 14-fold). The observed number of cancer cases was significantly higher than the estimated number (p less than 0.00001). Therefore, oral lichen planus fulfils the WHO criterion of a premalignant condition.

PubMed Disclaimer