Actinic lesions in fishermen's lower lip: clinical, cytopathological and histopathologic analysis

INTRODUCTION: Actinic cheilitis (AC) is considered to be a pre-malignant lesion or an incipient and superficial form of lip squamous cell carcinoma. It is commonly found in individuals whose occupational activities are related to chronic sun exposure and the definitive diagnosis is performed with biopsy. Althoug Exfoliative cytology has been used as a screening procedure to evaluate cancer of the oral cavity no studies have proposed the use of exfoliative cytologic analysis to evaluate and diagnose AC. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate lower lip lesions on fishermen related to chronic solar exposure using clinical, cytologic and histopathologic analyses. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Smears taken from the vermilion of the lower lips of 125 fishermen and 30 control individuals were subjected to cytologic analysis. RESULTS: The harvested cells were sufficient for cytologic analysis in 83.2% of the samples. Sixteen fishermen exhibited prominent lower lip lesions that justified biopsy and histological studies. In total, 4 specimens were malignant (3.2%), and 12 displayed epithelial dysplasia, demonstrating that the prevalence of epithelial dysplasia and malignant lesions was high among the fishermen population. These conditions were strongly associated with infiltration and blurring of the vermilion margin of the lower lip. CONCLUSION: The cytologic analysis was not useful for detecting epithelial dysplasia or malignant alterations

Actinic lesions in fishermen lower lip: clinical, cytopathological and histopathological analysis

Este estudo propôs-se a avaliar lesões de lábio inferior de pescadores nas praias de Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil, através de análise clínica, cito e anatomopatológica. Foi realizada análise citológica de esfregaços do lábio inferior de todos os pescadores (125) cuja celularidade foi adequada (83,2% dos casos). Em 16 pescadores a avaliação clínica indicou a necessidade de biópsia, nos quais observaram-se 4 casos de lesão maligna (3,2%) e 12 de graus variados de displasia (9,6%). A análise citológica dos esfregaços não foi capaz de detectar nenhuma das alterações displásicas ou malignas diagnosticadas nas biópsias. Todos os casos em que as características clínicas indicaram a necessidade de biópsia revelaram alterações significativas na análise histopatológica. Concluiu-se que a incidência de lesões displásicas e malignas é alta na população de pescadores estudada e que está fortemente associada às manifestações clínicas correspondentes à alteração na delimitação entre vermelhão do lábio e pele e aumento da consistência à palpação, não sendo a citologia esfoliativa adequada, apenas em bases morfológicas, para avaliação de queilite actínica e câncer de lábio.This study proposed to evaluate the injury of lower lip of fishermen on the beaches of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, through clinical, cytopathological and histopathological analysis. Cytological examination was performed on smears of the lower lip of all fishermen (125) whose cellularity was satisfactory in 83,2% of the cases. On 16 fishermen the clinical evaluation indicated the need of biopsy. In 4 cases (3.2%) it was observed malignant lesions and in 12 cases (9,6%) it was observed differents degrees of dysplasia. The cytological analysis was unable to detect any of the dysplastic changes or malignancies diagnosticated in the histopathological study. In all cases where the clinical features indicated the need of biopsy it had significant changes in microscopic analysis. It was concluded that the incidence of malignant and premalignant lesions is high in this fishermen studied population, which is strongly associated with the clinical manifestations corresponding to blurring of vermilion margin and infiltration, and the exfoliative cytology is inadequate, only in morphological basis, to detect dysplastic alterations and cancer of the lip