Setting up a Registry for Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD)

Background: Oral cancer accounts for 3% of all malignancies. Progression to malignancy occurs with a gradual process. Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) are associated with the development of malignant transformation toward oral cancer. Objectives: This registry aimed at introducing an exact data gathering method for detecting, managing, and monitoring patients with OPMD to decrease the occurrence of oral cancer. Methods: In this registry, all patients with OPMD such as leukoplakia, erythroplakia, and oral lichen planus at Shahid Beheshti Dental School, Tehran, Iran were included. Patients' information including demographics, clinical, and histopathological features, the type of OPMD, treatment measures, and lesion changes in follow-up intervals were recorded in the registry software. In addition, a quality assurance team supervised and guaranteed the quality control of the entire registry process. Results: The following measures have been accomplished so far: development of an ethically-approved proposal, development of a comprehensive data form, development of web-based registration software, development of a manual of operation, signing of a collaborative contract with more than 8 dental schools throughout Iran, identification of 100 eligible patients, signing a contract with the Research Deputy of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, and codification of a verified and ethically approved quality assurance proposal. This registry is getting the advantage of being supervised and sponsored by the Disease Registry Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Conclusions: The prospect of this registry is to provide patients with OPMD with a nationwide diagnostic service and continuous monitoring protocol through a collaborative network of all dental schools in Iran.