Need for the study: Oral precancerous lesions are one of the most prevalent lesions worldwide today. Leukoplakia is the commonest premalignant lesion , which if neglected can be fatal. Several therapeutic agents have been tried to intervene. Of which, Lycopene has been tried, tested and accepted as a conventional form of treating leukoplakia. Curcumin, 1,7-bis-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6- heptadiene-3,5-dione] is regarded as the most biologically active constituent of the spice turmeric consisting 2–8% of most turmeric preparations. It has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and and pro-apoptotic activities. The purpose of the study was to compare the anti-precancerous activities of lycopene with curcumin. Methodology: A randomized …show more content…
The informed consent of the patients was obtained before the trial after briefing them about the risks and benefits of the study. The patients were taken into the study based on the following eligibility criteria. Inclusion criteria was the presence of clinically and histopathologically diagnosed leukoplakia, those who had not taken any form of treatment for leukoplakia in the last 6 months, patients with willingness to quit the adverse habits(smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco and alcohol) and those who were ready for a 6 months follow up. Patients with any systemic diseases, who are already diagnosed with carcinoma and pregnant and lactating mothers were excluded. A proforma was filled which elicited a thorough personal history, habits history and dental history.
Patients were randomly allocated into either of the two groups. A double blind study was undertaken to minimize any bias occurring in the association of cause and effect. The patients and the analyst were not informed as to which group they belonged.
Group A (Curcumin group): 10 patients were given with 1g of curcumin capsules orally in 2 divided doses daily for a period of three …show more content…
The mean size of the lesion in Group A was 17.544, while the Group B mean size of the lesion was 17.503before treatment. The Group A mean size of the lesion was 3.12, while the Group B mean size of the lesion was 2.763 after treatment. (Table 3 and 4)The t test value at p level lesser than 0.0001 and degrees of freedom at 9 for Group A is 15.614, which shows there is a significant improvement with curcumin therapy. The t test value at p level lesser than 0.0001 and degrees of freedom at 9 for Group B is 13.48 ,which depicts a significant improvement of the lesion with lycopene therapy. It can be noted that the size of the lesion reduced drastically both in the study and control group, suggesting that curcumin had equivalent tumor suppressing property as that of lycopene. (Table