Lesões ulcerativas da cavidade oral e a importância do diagnóstico diferencial

: estudo observacional

Abstract

Oral ulcers represent a type of lesion that has a high prevalence rate in the oral mucosa. This type of oral lesions often possess similar clinical appearance, however, their etiology may be varied. The etiology can be local via mechanical irritation, malignancy and drug reactions or it can be a manifestation of various systemic diseases, such as infections or mucocutaneous and gastrointestinal diseases. The differential diagnosis, performed by analyzing all possible causes of oral ulceration, is necessary to establish an appropriate treatment for each patient with oral ulcers. In order to contribute to the differential study of ulcerated lesions, through its association with systemic diseases and revealing the importance of clinical history and differential diagnosis, it was conducted the analysis of 20 patients with oral ulceration at the Clinic of the Catholic University - Campus of Viseu. The clinical cases were described by performing the clinical characterization of each case, evaluating the possible origins of the ulcerated lesions and collecting all the necessary medical information to perform a careful and critical analysis of each patient’s clinical status. It was found that three of all the evaluated patients had recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Blood tests revealed that there was a decrease of the normal levels of iron-binding capacity and ferritin in two patients with recurrent ulceration. The replacement treatment given to the patients was effective, since it reduced the number and severity of oral ulcers, as well as the duration of the recurrent episodes after one month of treatment. In conclusion, it can be stated that iron and ferritin deficiencies are an integral part of the pathogenesis of recurrent oral ulceration, as previously described in the scientific literature

Date of Award	1 Mar 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rui Amaral Mendes (Supervisor) & João Tinoco Torres (Co-Supervisor)