Contribuição da Citopatologia Esfoliativa no diagnóstico de lesões de cavidade oral

Abstract

JUSTIFICATION: Oral cancer is considered worldwide as a major public health problem, more common in developing countries. The evolution can be insidious, and often diagnosed only in advanced stages with mutilating surgeries, associated or not with adjuvant treatment. As in other cancers, early diagnosis is a priority activity to perform less aggressive treatments and improving survival. An activity that can contribute to the early diagnosis of lesions with or without evident clinical repercussion is exfoliative cytology; technique is not yet implemented for the diagnosis of oral lesions in the Amazonas´s state. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the use of exfoliative cytology for the diagnosis of oral cavity and oropharyngeal lesions, prior to its surgical removal. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients with an incisional or excisional biopsy of oral cavity lesions attended at the Dental North Specialty Center and the Oncology Control Center Foundation of the State of Amazonas, both in Manaus-AM, were selected. Before completing the biopsy, and after patient's consent, a form was filled out to obtain clinical data, followed by photodocumentation of the lesion and collection of cytological material for the preparation of conventional smears and in a liquid medium. These were fixed and then stained by the Papanicolaou technique. The results of the cytology techniques were compared with each other and with those obtained in the histopathological evaluation. RESULTS: The study sample was composed of 50 patients, 30 females and 20 males. In 70% of the cases, the lesions were histological interpreted as benign and 30% as malignant. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most prevalent lesions, with 15 cases, the benign lesions preferential site was lip and the malignant lesions were tongue, the profile´s patients diagnosed with malignancy was of male patients, smoker and alcohol use. When comparing the two methods of cytology we obtained 100% sensitivity, specificity 97%, accuracy 97%, Kappa 0.91. Regarding the accuracy of the cytological and histopathological diagnosis, sensitivity was 86.6%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, NPV 94.5%, Kappa 0.958 and accuracy 96%. CONCLUSIONS Traditional and liquid based cytology methods were able to identify and classify cell changes with characteristics of malignancy and have high sensitivity and specificity, without significant differences between the two techniques tested. Cytology techniques have proven reproducible and, if well indicated, can be routinely used for the early detection of malignant lesions.