DNA-ICM as an adjuvant method applied on oral cytological specimens

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate cytology diagnosis accuracy using adjuvant methods in clinical routine for oral cancer. This prospective study was conducted on 98 patients with clinically potentially malignant or malignant oral cavity lesions. One oral lesion smear was taken from each patient using a cytobrush before biopsy and stored at PreservCyt Thinprep. Samples were cytologically analyzed, and DNA ploidy measurement was performed on the same slide. The diagnostic methods' accuracy was then calculated. In clinical inspection, 61 patients had suspicious lesions for malignancy, whereas 37 had potentially malignant disorders. Cytology associated with DNA image cytometry presented a sensitivity of 81.2% and specificity of 90.9%. When analyzing lesions located in high-risk sites to oral malignancies individually, cytology associated with DNA image cytometry presented a sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 100.0%, accuracy of 90.0%, and Kappa value of 0.77 (CI 95%: 0.48-1.00). Association between cytology and DNA image cytometry is an objective and non-invasive diagnostic method that demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing malignant epithelial squamous cell transformation in the oral cavity.