Candidal Association With Oral Precancer And Cancer-A Candid View

Dr.L.Nishanthi; Dr.Shyamala.K; Dr.Girish H.C; Dr.Sanjay Murgod; Dr.Vaidhehi Nayak; Dr.Kalpajyoti Bhattacharjee

Volume : IV, Issue : VII, July - 2015

Candidal Association With Oral Precancer And Cancer-A Candid View

Dr. L. Nishanthi, Dr. Shyamala. K, Dr. Girish H. C, Dr. Sanjay Murgod, Dr. Vaidhehi Nayak, Dr. Kalpajyoti Bhattacharjee

Abstract :

BACKGROUND : Candida albicans, a diploid asexual fungus, is an opportunistic pathogen which colonizes human mucosal epithelial cell surfaces. C.albicans are innocuous oral commensals and when optimal conditions supervene, they cause diseases. C.albicans is much more frequently detected in OSCC than in controls. Candidal infection along with other co-factors may also induce epithelial atypia and dysplasia leading to malignant transformation. The present study evaluates the association of C.albicans with potentially malignant and malignant lesions of oral cavity and compare with normal control group. AIM : Quantitative analysis of candida albicans in formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue blocks of oral leukoplakia, oral squamous cell carcinoma, oral submucous fiosis, normal mucosa using Periodic Acid Schiff stain. MATERIALS AND METHODS : 45 paraffin embedded tissue blocks which included 20 potentially malignant ( 10 - oral leukoplakia and 10 - OSMF ) , 15 OSCC and 10 normal mucosa which served as a control were stained with PAS stain and viewed under the microscope. All the observations were tabulated and the results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. The Candidal load comparison between premalignant and malignant were tested with Mann Whitneys test. The observations from the four groups were subjected to Kruskal Wallis test. RESULTS: Out of 45 biopsy tissues stained for presence of candida using PAS stain, 17 tissues showed Fungal forms. In OSCC (the Candida albicans count was more accounting for 53% whereas it was 40% of OSMF, 30% in oral leukoplakia and 20% in normal controls. CONCLUSION : A significant association of candidal load were seen more often in malignant lesions than in premalignant lesions. However statistically no significant difference was seen ( p - value = 0.085 ).