Cristina Bez

Lichen planus and hepatitis C virus: a multicentre study of patients with oral lesions and a systematic review

Background  An association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and lichen planus (LP) has been investigated, but results have been inconsistent.

Benzydamine hydrochloride oral rinses in management of burning mouth syndrome. A clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the topical use of benzydamine hydrochloride 0.15% oral mouthwashes in the control of burning mouth syndrome symptoms. STUDY DESIGN In this double-blind, randomized, longitudinal investigation, each of 30 patients with burning mouth syndrome was assigned to one of 3 management modalities. Those in group A received an oral rinse solution of benzydamine hydrochloride 0.15% 3 times a day for 4 weeks, those in group B received a placebo 3 times a day for 4 weeks, and those in group C did not receive any kind of treatment. A visual analog scale was used for evaluation of the symptoms; a Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance exact test was performed on the resulting data. RESULTS The findings of this investigation failed to reveal significant differences among the groups. CONCLUSIONS The clinical application of benzydamine hydrochloride oral rinses in the treatment of patients with burning mouth syndrome did not demonstrate significative efficacy in comparison with use of a placebo solution.

GM-CSF mouthrinses in the treatment of severe oral mucositis: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE The aim of this open trial was to test the efficacy of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) mouthrinses as a potential treatment in reducing the duration of severe oral mucositis in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation for hematologic malignancies. STUDY DESIGN The study group was composed of 10 consecutive patients suffering from severe oral mucositis during bone marrow transplantation procedures. The control group was similar to the study group in age and gender and comprised 29 historical patients with similar clinical characteristics. Freshly prepared GM-CSF mouthwash (0.5 microg/mL) was administered to the study population for 1 minute 3 times per day after oral hygiene procedures, starting from the first day of mucositis until clinical improvement of oral lesions. The study and control populations were compared with respect to duration of severe oral mucositis (1-9 days, 10-19 days, > or =20 days). RESULTS There was no statistically (chi2 exact test) significant difference in mean mucositis score between the study group (11.9+/-6.1) and the control group (16.6+/-8.9). However, the duration of severe mucositis appeared to be reduced; 60% of the GM-CSF mouthrinse patients had severe mucositis for less than 9 days, whereas only 28% of the controls had severe mucositis for less than 9 days. In addition, 10% of the GM-CSF mouthrinse patients experienced severe mucositis lasting 20 or more days, whereas 34% of the controls experienced severe mucositis for 20 or more days. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that GM-CSF may reduce the duration of severe mucositis, but controlled, double-blind clinical trials are now required.

Detection of survivin mRNA in healthy oral mucosa, oral leucoplakia and oral cancer.

BACKGROUND Survivin is involved in modulation of cell death and cell division processes. Survivin expression in normal adult tissues has not been fully understood, although it is markedly lower than in cancer, where it is over-expressed. OBJECTIVE To investigate survivin expression in normal, potentially malignant and cancerous oral mucosa. METHODS We measured survivin mRNA levels by real-time RT-PCR in specimens of oral mucosa (15 from normal mucosa, 17 from potentially malignant lesions, 17 from neoplasms). Scores were compared using Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc according to Conover. Chi-squared test was used for dichotomous data. RESULTS The median relative levels of survivin mRNA resulted six for normal mucosa, eight for potentially malignant lesions, 13 for cancers: differences among these three groups were statistically significant, as between cancer and potentially malignant lesions. Expression in normal mucosa and potentially lesions group showed no significant difference. Low, but not marginal expression of survivin in normal mucosa is a new finding, and it could be explained with the higher sensibility of our methods. CONCLUSIONS Survivin expression in oral potentially malignant lesions might indicate a progressive deregulation of expression paralleling oncogenesis, particularly during the first stages of process, suggesting a putative predictive role for survivin.

Characterization of induced mucosal connective tissue separation – a comparison of six different techniques

Background:  Artificial separation of oral mucosa into epithelium and connective tissue represents the first step in investigating both the basement membrane zone and its two components (epithelium and connective tissue) separately. It is a useful tool in analysing the possible role of hepatitis C virus in the pathogenesis of oral lichen planus (OLP). The aim of the present study was to test different methods to separate the epithelium from the connective tissue of oral mucosa affected by OLP as a preliminary step for further immunohistochemical or molecular investigations.