Diagnostic Accuracy of Screening of Lip and Oral Cavity Cancers or Potentially Malignant Disorders (PMD) by Frontline Workers – a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Lip and oral cavity cancers are responsible for more than 170,000 deaths globally in 2020 (GLOBOCAN, 2020). The age-standardised incidence of lip and oral cavity cancer is highest in the WHO South-East Asia region, followed by WHO Europe and WHO EastMediterranean region (GLOBOCAN, 2020). Most patients with lip & oral cavity cancer present in advanced stages, requiring expensive and aggressive combined modality treatment, leading to low cure rates, severe morbidity, and poor quality of life. Screening facilitates the identification of precancerous lesions, early changes of malignant transformation, and oral neoplasia in pre-invasive or early preclinical invasive stages (Sankaranarayanan et al., 2015). WHO recommends various strategies for the screening of oral cancer (IARC, Abstract