Nd:YAG laser: boon or bane in management of oral leukoplakia? A study

Background and objectives: To study the efficacy Nd:YAG laser in the management of oral leukoplakia.

Methods: The study comprises of minimum 20 patients, with clinically diagnosed oral leukoplakia attending the out patient department (OPD) of Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dental Sciences, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow. All patients with clinically and histologically diagnosed oral leukoplakia were included in this study. Patients with non white patch lesions such as warts, biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma, vascular lesions and patients with medically compromised status, were excluded from this study. All patients were assessed on standard protocol that comprises identification of risk factors (such as consumption of alcohol and smoking/smokeless tobacco habits by way of structured medical and social histories) followed by laser excision by a single surgeon working to an established protocol. All patients has undergone excision of lesion by pulsed Nd:YAG laser of 1064 nm wavelength.

Results: Repeated continuous measurements were compared by ANOVA test whereas categorical variables were analysed by Chi square test. Results showed significant reduction of pain and slough of the patients after 72 h to 1 week. Complete healing was observed by 1 month. Only 2 patients had recurrences by 6 months follow up.

Conclusion: Among the various treatment modalities, we prefer using Nd:YAG laser for ablating leukoplakic lesion as it is not only appropriate to the oral tissues but also regarded as convenient, economical and less time consuming to the patient.

Key words: Nd:YAG laser; leukoplakia; ablation

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Jan 21, 2018 | Posted by in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | Comments Off on Nd:YAG laser: boon or bane in management of oral leukoplakia? A study

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