抄録
Objectives: We evaluated a liquid-based method for cytology of oral mucosal lesions, based on the Bethesda system （Oral Bethesda system）.
Methods: One hundred patients with oral mucosal lesions previously diagnosed via histology （excluding salivary gland tumors） were selected and re-diagnosed using the Oral Bethesda cytodiagnostic criteria for classification. The conventional Papanicolaou criteria were used for comparison.
Results: The values obtained for sensitivity and false-negative rate for the Oral Bethesda system were 88％ and 12％, respectively, both of which were lower than those obtained using the Papanicolaou system. In addition, evaluation of high-bright, orangeophilic, keratinized cells using the Oral Bethesda system was found to be useful for screening of squamous cell carcinoma.
Conclusion: Due to the current lack of specific criteria for cytodiagnosis of the oral cavity, development of new criteria is required. The results of this study demonstrated that The Oral Bethesda system is a clinically useful tool for oral cytology.
