Abstract
With nearly 1,500,000 new patients diagnosed every year in the USA, cancer poses a considerable challenge to healthcare today. Oral cancer is responsible for a sizeable portion of deaths due to cancer, primarily because it is diagnosed at a late stage when the prognosis is poor. Current methods for diagnosing oral cancer need to be augmented by better early detection, monitoring and screening modalities. A new approach is needed that provides real-time, accurate, noninvasive diagnosis. The results of early clinical trials using in vivo optical coherence tomography for the diagnosis of oral dysplasia and malignancy are encouraging.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.