Clinical manifestations of oral proliferative verrucous leukoplakia: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to gather the available evidence about proliferative verrucous leukoplakia. This systematic review was conducted to answer the question: "What are the main clinical features of PVL patients?".

Material and methods: A systematic review of the literature was done following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statements. An electronic research was carried out using different electronic databases; PubMed, and Scopus. Inclusion criteria were papers which reported at least 10 patients with proliferative verrucous leukoplakia and were published not more than 10 years ago.

Results: A total of 285 records were identified through databases, although only 6 of them were eligible. Most patients were women, above 60 years of age (67.4). Additionally, 28 of them were non-smokers (66.6%) and 24 were non-habitual drinkers (57.1%). The most common locations were gingiva (50.9%), buccal mucosa (44.9%), and tongue (40.6%) CONCLUSION: Level C can be established to conclude the proliferative verrucous leukoplakia demographic data, risk factors, malignant transformation, and location. A strict follow-up on these patients should be mandatory, even after surgical management since they have a high recurrence rate and a malignant transformation.

Keywords: proliferative verrucous leukoplakia; treatment.