This study involved real‐time microscopic imaging of freshly excised oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) would potentially support rapid recognition of oral malignancy and optimal time‐saving patient surgical treatment management. This study aimed to examine oral squamous cell cancer tissue regarding the commonly known and well‐described histomorphologic criteria for the diagnosis of OSCC in ex vivo confocal fluorescent microscopy and to analyze its correlation with grade of differentiation and level of invasiveness. The researchers evaluated ex vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images of 38 OSCCs immediately after excision for the presence or absence of various cytological and architectural features based on the histopathological background. Next, these features were compared to the grade of differentiation as elaborated via gold standard histologic examination.
As a result, among 38 invasive OSCCs, 14 were well-differentiated, while three moderately and 19 were poorly-differentiated. The presence of the popularly known cytologic and histopathologic criteria for the diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinomas such as the destruction of the basal cell membrane, cellular and nuclear pleomorphism, anisocytosis, intraepithelial keratinization, nuclear hyperchromasia, atypical mitotic figures as well as the presence of necrosis, and mixed inflammation could be observed in ex vivo fluorescence confocal microscopy (FCM).
Ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijd.15152
