AMU faculty member speaks on Malignant Lesions of Oral Cavity
Aligarh : Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) faculty member, Prof Pradhuman Verma (Chairman, Department of Oral Pathology/ Oral Medicine and Radiology, Z A Dental College-ZADC) spoke about the most common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity and its risk factors.
He was delivering an invited talk on ‘An Overview of Malignant Lesions of Oral Cavity’ in the webinar on ‘Recent Advances in Diagnosis and Management of Oral Pre-Cancer and Cancer’ in the IOCCON 2022 programme of the National Health Academy, New Delhi.
“Squamous cell carcinoma is a common malignant neoplasm of the oral cavity. Tobacco and alcohol use have been identified as risk factors, but squamous cell carcinoma can occur in patients with no known risk factors.”, he indicated in the guest lecture.
Prof Pradhuman drew attention to pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions and the harm caused by inimical habits such as tobacco consumption, betel nut consumption and alcohol.
“There are several viruses responsible for tumorogenesis that can be found in pre-malignant and malignant lesions of the oral cavity in most of the cases”, he said adding that oral cancer is a disease with a complex etiology.
Prof Pradhuman specified: “There is evidence for the roles of smoking, consumption of alcohol, and genetic susceptibility, as well as strong indications that DNA viruses could be involved. The herpes simplex virus type 1 has been associated with oral cancer by serological studies, and animal models and in vitro systems have demonstrated that it is capable of inducing oral cancer. Papillomaviruses are found in many oral cancers and are also capable of transforming cells to a malignant phenotype. Both the virus groups depend on co-factors for their carcinogenic effects”.
Future research on viruses and oral cancer is expected to clarify the role of these viruses, and this will lead to improvements in diagnosis and treatment of the disease, he said.
Prof Pradhuman also discussed various new diagnostic techniques for early detection of oral cancer and its non-surgical management.
Early diagnosis of oral malignancy can be done by periodically visiting the dentist, he suggested.