Laser evaporation versus laser excision of oral leukoplakia: A retrospective study with long-term follow-up.

OBJECTIVES: The study makes a comparison between two surgical approaches for the treatment of oral leukoplakia (OL) in terms of recurrence in a well-defined cohort of patients with a long-term follow-up period. METHODS: The cohort consisted of 77 OL patients divided into 2 groups. Group 1: 47 patients treated with laser evaporation using a Nd:YAG laser. Group 2: 30 patients treated with a CO2 laser for excision. Clinical and histological examinations were performed for the diagnosis of OL before treatment. We included OLs with or without dysplasia. The mean follow-up period was 60 ± 32.49 months. RESULTS: Of the 77 patients, 22 (28.5%) showed recurrence during the follow-up period. No significant difference was found between the two treatments (χ(2) = 2.6; p = 0.2). However, CO2 laser excision resulted in better results than the Nd:YAG laser evaporation, considering the non-homogeneous OLs (χ(2) = 3.9; p = 0.04) and OLs with mild dysplasia (χ(2) = 4.6; p = 0.03). DISCUSSION: The study makes a comparison between our results and articles from the literature, and suggests when each of the two surgical approaches is most appropriate.