Controversies in verruco papillary lesions of the oral cavity-A systematic review

Introduction: Verruco papillary lesions (VPL) in the oral cavity encompass a spectrum of lesions starting from benign, potentially malignant to entirely malignant tumors. Much of the controversies in these entities occur due to lack of consensus on the disease characteristics and the management. This systematic review was conducted to identify and describe different lesions categorized as VPL in the oral cavity and their association with malignancy.

Methods: An electronic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE (via PubMed), Scopus, LILAC, IMSEAR, and CENTRAL databases, which retrieved a total of 1020 abstracts. These abstracts were managed through Rayyan and Mendeley software, and only 28 studies with high quality were included in the systematic review.

Results: Studies were published from 1992 to 2021. From the extracted data, nine different entities under the umbrella term VPL were identified associated with malignancy. We describe the clinical and histopathological characteristics of these and propose a uniform framework for nomenclature.

Conclusions: Lack of well-planned research with adequate follow-up duration and inadequate quality standards are major barriers for the lack of evidence. The use of uniform nomenclature, as proposed in this study, and research at the molecular level will greatly reduce the controversies in understanding oral VPL associated with malignancy.