Skip to content
Login Register

WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer-Expert Symposium on Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders

10 Mar 2020

On 4 and 5 March 2020, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow hosted an Expert Symposium on Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs) organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer (UK).

In this guest blog by Professor Saman Warnakulasuriya, Emeritus Professor at King’s College London and Director WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer, he writes about a recent Dental event held in the College:

On 4 and 5 March 2020, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow hosted an Expert Symposium on Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs) organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Oral Cancer (UK).

With the objective to facilitate personal exchange, invited experts from the UK, USA, Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Australia with a wealth of collective experience on OPMDs, met in the College and discussed the current status and new developments in the field. Two experts who could not travel to Scotland due to the current global situation joined the meeting via a web link. The symposium was chaired by Professor Graham Ogden, the College’s former Vice President (Dental) and Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery.

The group discussed both the published definitions and proposals to modify the WHO definitions, classifications and descriptions of oral leukoplakia and oral lichenoid lesions. Four systematic reviews were presented outlining the current evidence on malignant transformation of four common conditions: oral leukoplakia, proliferative verrucous leukoplakia, oral lichen planus and oral submucous fibrosis.

The expert group further looked at the current advances on diagnostic techniques and biomarkers for diagnosing and assessing the risk of various OPMDs. The final session was devoted to discussing the surgical and medical management of oral leukoplakia and oral submucous fibrosis.

Several interventions that have been demonstrated to reduce risk for cancer development were discussed including randomised controlled trials comparing effects of surgery, medical or complementary treatments (local or systemic) or risk factor cessation versus placebo. While none of the interventional studies specifically measured cancer development, it was the experts’ opinion that a number of the medical treatments hypothetically can impact upon putative pathways leading to cancer development,

All presentations given at the workshop will be written up for publication as a special supplement of Oral Diseases in a forthcoming volume. The expert group wishes to thank the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow for providing facilities for holding this symposium and a special word of thanks to Lyn Cranwell for her kind assistance in all matters connected with the organisation of the workshop.

The expert group wishes to thank Mr Steve W. Kess Vice President, Global Professional Relations and Henry Schein Care Foundation for providing an Educational Grant for travel expenses.

Pictured above are:

Last row: Prof Newell Johnson (Australia), Prof Miguel Gonzalez Moles (Spain), Dr Fernanda Weber Mello (Brazil), Professor Phil Sloan (UK), Prof Edward Odell (UK)

Middle row: Dr Luis Monteiro (Portugal), Prof Jose M. Aguirre (Spain)

Front row: Prof Saman Warnakulasuriya (UK), Prof Graham Ogden (UK), Prof Ross Kerr (USA)

Category: Engagement


Share this story:

Latest news and statements

Key priority areas

Workforce Recovery and Transformation
Health services in many parts of the world are over-stretched due to workforce shortages, rising demand for services and difficulties in retaining staff.
Read more
Wellbeing
A healthy healthcare workforce is essential for patient care. When the workforce is exhausted, experiencing burnout, and struggling to balance their work and personal lives, it impacts on everyone.
Read more
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to standing up for equality, diversity and inclusion. We want our College to reflect the diversity in the NHS workforce and in the patients that we care for.
Read more
Climate Change and Sustainability
Climate change has caused great harm to our planet and warnings of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding will all place a significant burden on our health outcomes.
Read more
Health Inequalities
The health inequalities in our society have been both highlighted and exacerbated by the covid pandemic. There is a need to do things differently.
Read more
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the lives of healthcare professionals, and the urgent need to learn whilemfocusing on delivering the best care for our patients has been an enormous challenge.
Read more

Topics


Archive


Key links



Contact us

rcpsg@grayling.com
07714307976

Log in

Log in to access your Dashboard, book events, pay your subscriptions and access eLearning material.

Log in

Register an account

New users must register before logging in. You do not need to be a member of the College in order to register.

Register

Help

Having difficulty registering or logging in? Forgotten your username or password?

Get Help