The role of autofluorescence diagnostics in the diseases of oral mucosa

Abstract

Introduction. Life induced fluorescence (LIFE) diagnostics can be used as an imaging system of precancerous and neoplastic lesions of the oral mucosa. Neoplastic lesions are visible in pseudo colours, healthy tissue in green colour and abnormal tissue in red colour. All the observed colours present different intensity. Colour intensity is relevant to the grade of dysplasia, carcinoma progress and is called Numerological Value of Color Index (NCV). The aim of our study was to find correlation between autofluorescence diagnostics combined with NCV assessment and histopathological findings of taken specimen biopsies. Patients and methods. 10 patients participated in our study. Lesions affected a variety of intraoral sites. The most common location was: buccal, gingival and mandibular mucosa. Patients were examined using Life Induced Fluorescence diagnosis (400 -750 nm wavelength) with Numerological Value of Color index (NCV) using Onco LIFE system. Afterwards the specimen biopsies from the lesions were taken and histopathological examination was performed. Results. Different NCV and dependence of NCV on the histopathological findings were observed. Conclusion. Diagnostic procedures with the application of white-light imaging with LIFE imaging is not only a significantly faster method and a better diagnostic tool of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions, but there exist also correlations between measured NCV and histopathological diagnosis. The farther investigations are necessary in order to prove these preliminary findings.

An Assessment of the Impact of Zidovudine on Rat Teeth Ontogenesis with Quantitative Laser Induced Fluorescence and an Histomorphological Analysis

“…The fluorescent properties of molecules present in the different tissues of living organisms were used to evaluate and monitor their actual metabolic activity, determine the redox status, oxygen concentration in tissues, mitochondrial insufficiency as well as assess the degree of bone tissue maturity, the presence of mineral compounds in teeth and detect microorganisms in living tissues [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Knowledge of the status of the above characteristics of an organism helps ensure early detection of subclinical pathologies, including early detection of premalignant and neoplastic changes [10,[15][16][17][18][19][20] and differential diagnosis of different types of pathological changes [9,19]. It can also be used to assess the impact of drugs on tissues [21,22], distinguish between healthy body tissues and dysplastic lesions [19], evaluate tumour lesion demarcation [19,23,24] and provide early detection of initial caries in teeth [12,[24][25][26][27].…”

“…It can also be used to assess the impact of drugs on tissues [21,22], distinguish between healthy body tissues and dysplastic lesions [19], evaluate tumour lesion demarcation [19,23,24] and provide early detection of initial caries in teeth [12,[24][25][26][27]. Apart from its possible application in diagnostics, fluorescence also serves as an important guide in longterm evaluations and monitoring of spontaneous or treatment-induced changes in tissues, including as a method for monitoring the carious spot in teeth and its remineralisation [12,13,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], monitoring the effects of antibiotic therapy and phototherapy in bacteriological skin diseases [13], as well as in photodynamic treatment (PDT) of neoplasms [28] and precancerous conditions [20,29].…”

“…Besides the area under the peak of emission line and its maximum intensity, many researchers have determined and interpreted fluorescence indices for the characteristics of fluorescence, thereby regarding them as a decisive diagnostic indicator [10,11,[19][20][21][22][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. These indices can apply to various types of tissue (root-crown), different locations of the analysed area (carious spot-healthy tooth) or the intensity of the light emitted at different wavelengths / NADH / FAD /.…”