A eficácia do autoexame oral na detecção de câncer de boca: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

Introduction: Oral self-examination is a practice that aims to contribute to the early detection of oral pathologies and reduce malignant transformations. Objective: To investigate, through an integrative review, whether the practice of oral self-examination is effective for the early identification of oral changes, focusing on oral cancer. Material and method: This research portrayed an integrative review of an exploratory nature based on scientific articles resulting from studies, in which the databases PUBMED, Virtual Health Library (VHL), CAPES Periodicals and ScienceDirect were used, using the descriptors (DECS) "autoexame" and "oral neoplasia", in English and Portuguese for studies published in the last 20 years. Results: 14 studies were included according to the inclusion criteria. Types of studies include accuracy studies, univariate and multivariate analyses, pilot studies, systematic reviews, quasi-experimental studies, cross-sectional studies, and randomized clinical trials. Results on the quality of the self-examination technique were not positive, due to little attention, mucosal retraction and short procedure time. There were differences in the public's ability to detect injuries, but methods such as presentations, photographs and clarification of doubts presented better sensitivity and specificity rates. Adhesion was favorable in all methods analyzed, being greater in individual and practical classes on the technique and importance of self-examination of the mouth. Conclusion: This review indicates that selfexamination can be effective as long as it applies methods adapted to the target audience, however this topic requires more research to better understand how to proceed on this issue.