Optical coherence tomography: Promising imaging technique for the diagnosis of oral mucosal diseases

• Published in: Oral diseases Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 3638 - 3651
• Main Authors: Chen, Xu‐Ya, Zhou, Gang, Zhang, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Denmark Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Bullous diseases; diagnosis and differentiation; Differential diagnosis; Discoid lupus erythematosus; Erythema; Erythema multiforme; Leukokeratosis; Lichen planus; Mucosa; Mucositis; optical coherence tomography; oral cancers; oral mucosal diseases; oral potentially malignant disorders; Tomography; Ulcers; oral mucosal diseases; diagnosis and differentiation; oral potentially malignant disorders; oral cancers; optical coherence tomography
• ISSN: 1354-523X; 1601-0825; 1601-0825
• DOI: 10.1111/odi.14851

Objective This review aims to summarize the latest application of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in oral mucosal diseases, promoting an accurate and earlier diagnosis of such disorders, which are difficult to be differentiated. Subjective and Methods References on the application of OCT in oral mucosal diseases were mainly obtained from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus databases, using the keywords: “optical coherence tomography and ‘oral mucosa/oral cancers/oral potentially malignant diseases/oral lichen planus/oral leukoplakia/oral erythroplakia/discoid lupus erythematosus/oral autoimmune bullous diseases/oral ulcers/erythema multiforme/oral mucositis’”. Results It is found that OCT is showing a promising application potential in the early detection, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, monitoring of oral cancer and oral dysplastic lesions, as well as the delineation of tumor margins. OCT is also playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis of oral potentially malignant disorders, oral mucosal bullous diseases, oral ulcerative diseases, erythema multiforme, and the early detection of oral mucositis. Conclusion Optical coherence tomography, as a novel optical technique featured by real‐time, noninvasive, dynamic and high‐resolution imaging, is of great use to serve as an adjunct tool for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, monitoring and therapy evaluation of oral mucosal diseases.