Time-to-Treatment of Oral Cancer and Potentially Malignant Oral Disorders: Findings in Malaysian Public Healthcare.

This study aims to evaluate the time-to-treatment of oral cancer and potentially malignant oral disorders (PMOD) in a Malaysian public healthcare setting while exploring its contributing factors. It consists of (1) a cross-sectional patient survey to quantify time to seek care and barriers faced, and (2) a retrospective medical record abstraction to determine treatment and management intervals. Time intervals were aggregated and analyzed by their primary contributor—patient, professional, or healthcare system.

Household Catastrophic Health Expenditure from Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders and Oral Cancer in Public Healthcare of Malaysia.

Objective: Oral cancer causes a significant disease burden and financial distress, especially among disadvantaged groups. While Malaysia has achieved universal health coverage via its highly subsidized public healthcare, patient and family expenditure for treatment of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMD) and oral cancer remains a concern in the equitability of care. This study thus aims to estimate household out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures and the extent of catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) while identifying its predictors.

Image collection and annotation platforms to establish a multi-source database of oral lesions.

Objective: To describe the development of a platform for image collection and annotation that resulted in a multi-sourced international image dataset of oral lesions to facilitate the development of automated lesion classification algorithms.

Materials And Methods: We developed a web-interface, hosted on a web server to collect oral lesions images from international partners. Further, we developed a customised annotation tool, also a web-interface for systematic annotation of images to build a rich clinically labelled dataset.

Barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region.

Objective: Oral cancer is amenable to early detection but remains a prominent cause of mortality in the Asia Pacific region. This study aimed to identify barriers to early detection and management of oral cancer in the Asia Pacific region.

Methods: A mixed-methods approach was employed triangulating findings from a survey and focus groups.

Provider cost of treating oral potentially malignant disorders and oral cancer in Malaysian public hospitals.

Oral cancer has been recognized as a significant challenge to healthcare. In Malaysia, numerous patients frequently present with later stages of cancers to the highly subsidized public healthcare facilities. Such a trend contributes to a substantial social and economic burden.

High referral accuracy for oral cancers and oral potentially malignant disorders using telemedicine.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of MeMoSA®, a mobile phone application to review images of oral lesions in identifying oral cancers and oral potentially malignant disorders requiring referral.

Subjects And Methods: A prospective study of 355 participants, including 280 with oral lesions/variants was conducted. Adults aged ≥18 treated at tertiary referral centres were included.