A Comparative Study of Verrucous Hyperplasia and Verrucous Carcinoma of the Oral cavity: Clinicopathological Dilemma Revisited

Background and Objectives: Oral verrucous hyperplasia and verrucous carcinoma are two clinicopathologically distinctive oral verrucous lesions, current understanding of these lesions is perplexing hence it is important to investigate the clinicopathological features of the two verrucous lesions and estimate their relationship. The present study was undertaken with the aim of identifying the pathological features in an attempt to differentiate both lesions. Materials and Methods: Archives of the department were retrieved for verrucous lesions. 20 cases were included in the study. Each patient was reviewed for clinical details like age, sex, habits, clinical features like site of lesion, clinical diagnosis, presence of associated lesions. Pathological details including both gross and microscopic features were analyzed. Results: A total of 20 patients included in the study showed a male preponderance with a significant association with tobacco consumption and size of lesion. Majority of the lesions were localized to the buccal mucosa, histopathological features were characteristic of each lesion. Expression of Ki-67, a proliferative marker showed, a statistically significant association between the mean LI of both the lesions. Conclusions: VH and VC are closely related lesions difficult to clinically differentiate, hence histopathological evaluation plays a pivotal role in establishing a diagnosis. Differentiating the two is essential and it should be kept in mind that VH may transform into VC hence, acting as a potential precancerous lesion.