Course of oral lichen planus: a retrospective study of 808 northern Italian patients

To undertake a retrospective inspection of the general features, clinical presentation and outcome of 808 Italian patients with oral lichen planus (OLP), followed up from 6 months to 17 years. The mean age was 61 years for women (n = 493) and 58 years for men (n = 315). More than 20% of the total cases had liver abnormalities (n = 164) of which 83.5% infected with hepatitis C virus (n = 137). The reticular and plaque form were the predominant type, affecting almost 60% of patients. 12.3% of patients had also extraoral manifestation, taking into account the skin (n = 63) and genital (n = 24). Symptoms were present in 40% of the total patients. Only less than 2.47% of patients underwent remission, whereas 78% still had oral lesions at the end of the follow-up period. Treatment was directed towards almost 42% of the patients, mainly using topical corticosteroids. Oral squamous cell carcinoma developed in 15 patients, commonly arising on the lateral border of the tongue. This is one of the largest groups of OLP patients with such long a follow-up ever reported. We confirm the chronic nature of this disorder, rarely remissive and the treatment intend for alleviating symptoms. OLP is established to be a disease with small frequency of malignant transformation.