CLINICOPATHOLOGIC PROFILE OF 60 CASES OF ACTINIC CHEILITIS

Objective Actinic cheilitis (AC), a potentially malignant disorder, exhibits unpredictable progression to lip squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, this study describes clinical and pathologic findings of cases of AC. Study Design Observational and cross-sectional study. Sample was composed of 60 cases of AC diagnosed in the period from 2011 to 2017 in an oral diagnosis referral center. Clinical data of patients (age, sex, and race) and lesions (anatomic site, size, symptomatology, and type of biopsy) were obtained from records. Morphologic analysis was graded according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2017). Results Mean age of patients was 57.9 ± 12.9 years old; male were most affected (n = 45; 75%), with ratio of 3:1. White individuals were most affected (n = 30; 50.0%). Lower lip was the anatomic site more affected (n = 58; 96.7%). In relation to clinical aspect, AC showed predominance of white lesions (n = 30; 50.0%), aspect of plaque (n = 25; 41.7%), size ≤ 1 cm (n = 29; 48.3%) and asymptomatic (n = 37; 61.7%). Incisional biopsy was the most performed (n = 29; 48.3%). Histopathologically, most AC cases were classified as mild epithelial dysplasia (n = 26; 43.3%). Conclusions The results showed that clinical aspects of AC can reflect morphologic findings, so it is important to make a more accurate diagnosis.