Plasma fibrinogen degradation products in oral submucous fibrosis

CONTEXT: Plasma fibrinogen degradation products (FDPs) and oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF). BACKGROUND: OSMF is a chronic, progressive, scarring disease of multifactorial etiology. Areca nut is found to be the main cause of this disease. But it has been found in the routine clinical practice that some individuals with the habit of areca nut chewing may not show any clinical evidence of OSMF, while some individuals without the habit of areca nut chewing are found to have OSMF. So, there must be some other factors associated with OSMF. Recently, plasma FDPs have been identified as an early indicator of disease in OSMF patients. A systematic review of their role would help to elucidate whether there is an association of these FDPs in the pathogenesis of OSMF or not. OBJECTIVE: To review studies reported in the literature elucidating the role of these plasma FDPs in OSMF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Articles were searched in PubMed; MEDLINE using appropriate key words like “plasma fibrinogen degradation products” and “oral submucous fibrosis.” Hand search of journals was also performed. Articles were reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS: The search strategy revealed nine relevant articles which studied the role of these plasma FDPs in the etiopathogenesis of OSMF and further progression of this disease with the increased clinical grades and the risk of carcinoma, but the exact role of these factors is still obscure. CONCLUSION: The data validate the role of plasma FDPs in the etiopathogenesis of OSMF. Studies with a large sample size are still required to evaluate the definite association between these FDPs and OSMF. It has the advantage of being a noninvasive method to evaluate the stage of OSMF patients, instead of using the invasive techniques like biopsy.