A Scoping Review on Gaps in the Diagnostic Criteria for Proliferative Verrucous Leukoplakia: A Conceptual Proposal and Diagnostic Evidence-Based Criteria

Abstract

Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia (PVL) is considered as an oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD) that presents with a high tendency to recurrence after treatment and has the highest malignant transformation ratio among all OPMD (50%). Evidence-based publications have indicated that the malignant evolution reported is significantly related to the inconsistent diagnostic criteria used in primary-level studies; so, it has been hypothesized that the risk of oral cancer for this disease could even be underestimated. This is important because PVL requires specific management protocols, evidence-based, aimed at the early diagnosis of cancer developing in these lesions. We present a scoping review—a novel approach to mapping the available literature on a given topic to provide an overview of the available research evidence and to highlight possible gaps in the evidence—especially related in our study to the diagnostic aspects of PVL, and to issue a conceptual proposal and diagnostic criteria for PVL. We conclude that PVL is a white, multifocal and progressive lesion with a high malignant transformation rate which is diagnosed mainly around the age of 60 years without any specific histological characterization. We also advise a personal reflection on the level of certainty with which the clinician makes the diagnosis of a particular case of PVL.