Oral field cancerization: an update on current concepts

Abstract

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There always exists a field with genetically altered cells with a high risk of developing premalignant and malignant lesions. It may often happen that an individual stem cell is genetically altered and can cause the formation of a clone or a patch which is likely to turn into a tumor. This explains the higher recurrence rates following tumor resections. It is essential to identify and to treat this field in order to have greater chances to prevent cancer and achieve a better outcome. This article reports concepts, theories and markers for the assessment of field cancerization.

Keywords

• cancerization
• clone
• field
• patch
• metastasis
• tumor.