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RecruitingNCT04858100Updated Mar 7, 2024

Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders: Comparison Between Surgical Treatment and Wait and See Approach

An interventional study of Surgical excision of the lesion and Wait and see approach in Leukoplakia, Oral, sponsored by University of Milan. Recruiting at 2 sites in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-03-07.

Sponsored by University of Milan · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was expected by Mar 2026, 8 months ago, but the record still lists the study as recruiting.
  • Registered 6 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Sep 2020, registered Mar 2021).
  • Started Sep 2020; still recruiting 6 years 2 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
310
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This research protocol is comparing the effectiveness of surgical excision to the "wait and see" approach for the management of oral leukoplakia and erythroleukoplakia in prevention of oral squamous cell carcinoma onset.

Read the detailed description

Different treatments have been proposed for the management of oral leukoplakia (OL) in order to prevent oral squamous cell carcinoma onset. However, there is still no consensus on the most effective approach for the patients affected by such oral potentially malignant disorders. Surgery is often performed, but there is no randomized clinical trial which demonstrates its real effectiveness in preventing oral cancer onset.

A recent RCT compared surgical treatment with "wait and see approach" care in patients with nondysplastic OL, assuming that regular clinical follow-up could be considered a reliable standard of care among patients with nondysplastic oral leukoplakias.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of surgical excision in treating OL and or reducing the onset of potential oral squamous cell carcinoma, with a follow-up of 5 years. This study will be the first RCT comparing the effectiveness of surgery to "wait and see approach" in the management of both dysplastic and nondysplastic oral leukoplakias.

02

Conditions studied

  • Leukoplakia, Oral

Keywords

  • Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder
  • Oral carcinoma
  • Oral medicine
  • Cancer prevention
03

In context

Leukoplakia, Oral

48 studies on the registry are indexed under Leukoplakia, Oral; 11 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 310 is above the median of 36 across 23 interventional studies indexed under Leukoplakia, Oral.

Browse Leukoplakia, Oral studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Milan is the lead sponsor of 183 studies on the registry; 28 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • OL diagnosis should be confirmed by incisional diagnostic and subsequent histopathological analysis
  • Subjects' age: 18 years or older
  • Lesions' size: 3 cm maximum longitudinal size of the single lesion
  • Lesions's location: oral areas with no surgical risk of damages to important anatomical structures such as nerves, salivary ducts and/or arteries.
  • Ability to understand and to sign a written document

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous oral cancer
  • Head and neck radiotherapy
  • Subjects under the age of 18
  • Subjects affected by PVL (proliferative verrucous leukoplakia)
  • High-risk of surgical damages to anatomical structures such as nerves, salivary ducts and/or arteries
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
310 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Surgery

    Each patient will receive the surgical excision of the lesion and subsequent follow-up

    Procedure: Surgical excision of the lesion

  • Active comparator
    Wait and see

    Each patient will receive clinical follow-up of the lesion with periodical incisional tissue biopsy.

    Other: Wait and see approach

Interventions

  • ProcedureSurgical excision of the lesion

    The surgical removal of the lesion, performed within 3 months from the final diagnosis, will follow these steps: * local anesthesia * excision of the lesion with surgical blade or laser, according to the clinical case, paying attention to having at least 2 mm-free margins * silk or resorbable suture for wound closure The patient will be recall after 14 days for assessing the wound healing and after 30 days for providing and explaining him the histopahtological exam. The patient will receive a 3-6 month follow-up according to the clinical and histopathological case.

  • OtherWait and see approach

    The patient will receive a 3-6 month follow-up according to the clinical and histopathological case, with periodical incisional biopsy every 4 control visit. In case of OSCC onset during the first 3 months after the final diagnosis, the patient will be excluded since the oral cancer occurence will be considered as a misdiagnosis, more than a "true" malignat progression.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Oral cancer incidence

    Number of patients who will develop oral squamous cell carcinoma

    Time frame: every 3 or 6 months (according to the clinical case) up to 5 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Time to malignant transformation from diagnosis

    Period of time required to develop malignancy

    Time frame: every 3 or 6 months (according to clinical case) up to 5 years

  2. Quality of life after surgical excision

    To evaluate the quality of life of patients affected by leukoplakia and treated with surgical excision, via Functional Intraoral Glasgow Scale (FIGS) questionnaire. FIGS is a simple point scale used to assess a patient's ability to speak, chew and swallow. Each of these functions is scored independently on a scale of 1-5, five being no disability and one meaning the patient has an inability to speak, chew, or swallow.

    Time frame: month 1 and month 6

07

Study locations

2 of 2 sites recruiting
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Started Sep 2020 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Mar 2026, 66 months after the start.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Mar 2, 2021
First posted
Apr 26, 2021
StartActual
Sep 1, 2020
Primary completionEst.
Mar 1, 2026
CompletionEst.
Mar 1, 2026
Last update
Mar 7, 2024
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 7, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04858100
Responsible party
Giovanni Lodi (Associate Professor, University of Milan) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 26, 2021
Start date
Sep 1, 2020
Primary completion
Mar 1, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Mar 1, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Mar 7, 2024

Study contacts

Giovanni Lodi, PhD, DMD
Contact
giovanni.lodi@unimi.it
00390250319021
Giovanni Lodi, PhD, DMD
principal investigator · University of Milan

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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