Considerations in the diagnosis of oral hairy leukoplakia – an institutional experience

Publication date: Available online 15 November 2017
Source:Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology
Author(s): Andres Flores-Hidalgo, Si On Lim, Alice E. Curran, Ricardo J. Padilla, Valerie Murrah
ObjectiveWe report the 10-year experience with oral hairy leukoplakia (OHL) at the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Study DesignAll the associated hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and EBV encoding region in-situ hybridization (EBER ISH) slides of OHL cases between January 1, 2008 and February 1, 2017 were retrieved and reviewed. Collected demographics, clinical presentation, medical and social history were reviewed and reported.ResultsSix ISH-confirmed OHL cases showed predilection for the lateral tongue. There were three females and three males. The mean age was 50.5 years, with a range of 29 -70 years. One patient had known HIV-positive status prior to the biopsy. Three patients had reported a history of heavy smoking. Other medical conditions reported were history of breast cancer, a long history of corticosteroid inhalers use for asthma treatment, high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate the need to include OHL as a potential entity in the differential diagnosis of leukoplakic tongue lesions, regardless of the HIV status. Also, the presence of OHL in patient can promote the investigation of various explanations of EBV infection including immunosuppression due to HIV infection or chronic steroid use.



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