Journal of Carcinogenesis & Mutagenesis

Abstract

White Blood Cells Count: As a Pathological Diagnostic Marker for Oral Pre-Cancerous Lesions and Conditions: A Randomized Blind Trial

Deepak Narang, Shamma Shishodiya, Jaideep Sur and Niyaz Fatma Khan

Background: Oral cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in human population. Oral cancer accounts for approximately 3% of all malignancies and results in significant worldwide health problems. Many Oral Squamous cell carcinomas develop from Oral pre-cancer such as Leukoplakia, Oral sub mucus fibrosis, and Lichen Planus. The early detection of cancer is of critical importance because of survival rates markedly improve, when the oral lesion is identified at an early stage. The present study was conducted to find out if WBC count can be used as a screening marker for diagnosis of Oral pre Cancer & compare their levels in precancerous lesions and healthy individuals.

Methodology: A prospective study was conducted which comprised of 60 samples out of which 30 were pre- cancerous lesions and 30 were healthy controls. In both the study and control group WBC count was measured & compared by the standard “t-test”.

Results: TLC & DLC showed no significant differences observed between control and study group except in group C (Lichen planus) vs Control in TLC & Eosinophil count (p-value<0.01) .Total study group vs healthy individuals in the lymphocyte count found to be statistically highly significant differences exists (p-value<0.001 ).

Conclusion: Our study suggested that WBC count is not a reliable method as a marker for oral pre-cancerous lesions but further detailed evaluation with larger samples required to establish the significance of these markers.