To validate the effectiveness of a newly developed light-emitting diode (LED)-narrow band imaging (NBI) system for detecting early malignant tumors in the oral cavity.

Six men (mean age, 51.5 years) with early oral mucosa lesions were screened using both the conventional white light and LED-NBI systems.

Small elevated or ulcerative lesions were found under the white light view, and typical scattered brown spots were identified after shifting to the LED-NBI view for all six patients. Histopathological examination confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. The clinical stage was early malignant lesions (T1), and the patients underwent wide excision for primary cancer. This is the pilot study documenting the utility of a new LED-NBI system as an adjunctive technique to detect early oral cancer using the diagnostic criterion of the presence of typical scattered brown spots in six high-risk patients.

Although large-scale screening programs should be established to further verify the accuracy of this technology, its lower power consumption, lower heat emission, and higher luminous efficiency appear promising for future clinical applications.