10-30: Oral cancer and its diagnosis

Question 1

Oral cancer that starts in squamous cells: flat, thin cells that form the lining of the mouth and throat

Answer 1

Oral squamous cell carcinoma

Question 2

Stages of oral squamous cell carcinoma are based on:

Answer 2

T: Tumor
N: node
M: mestasis

Question 3

What is the routine screening method used to identify oral mucosal lesions?

Answer 3

Visual oral examination (VOE)

Question 4

A heterogeneous group of clinical oral lesions associated with increased risk of malignant transformation

Answer 4

Oral potentially malignant disorders

Question 5

What is histopathic diagnosis useful for?
What is it not useful for?

Answer 5

• Can see: morphological and structural changes of tissue
• Not accurate for risk assessment of precancerous lesion OPMDs

Question 6

Sensitivity refers to a test’s ability to designate an individual

Answer 6

Sensitivity= WITH a disease as POSITIVE
Rules IN a disease

Positive = TRUE POSITIVE
Example: mammograms have a high sensitivity, if you get a positive, you have lesion

Question 7

Specificity of a test is its ability to designate an individual

Answer 7

Specificity= WITHOUT a disease as NEGATIVE
Rules OUT disease

Negative = TRUE NEGATIVE
Example: HB1Ac test has a high specificity, meaning that it is very good at ruling out a disease

Question 8

Vital Staining

Answer 8

High sensitivity, if you get a positive its likely a lesion,
A negative does not rule it out though

Question 9

What diagnosis technique for oral cancer has the most potential, but still is NOT a replacement for surgical biopsy and histological assessment?

Answer 9

Oral cytology

Same idea as a PAP smear, but not widely adopted because of LOW SENSITIVITY: LOW ABILITY TO IDENTIFY A TRUE POSITIVE

Question 10

Nucleic acids, proteins, peptides, and other molecules are assessed and measured from a specimen. This method is objective/quantitatative, precise, and reliable

Answer 10

Molecular biomarkers

Question 11

How can DNA methylation be used as a biomarker?

Answer 11

methylation in **tumor supressor genes **can cause their silencing, and methylations in the gene itself can lead to a variety of human cancers

Question 12

Protein biomarkers

Cell surface glycoprotein involved in cell regulation pathways

Answer 12

CD44

Question 13

Protein biomarkers

A calcium binding protein

Answer 13

S100A7