Introduction: Reactive lesions (RLs) of the oral cavity are non-neoplastic tumor-like hyperplasia that are often a response to persistent inflammation induced by different types of low-grade irritations. They are relatively common and have a clinical appearance similar to neoplastic proliferations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of reactive lesions based on WHO's head and neck tumor classification (2022) and the previous classifications in the literature over a period of 10 years in Cairo's educational hospitals and institutions and to compare the results with findings in the literature.
Materials and Methods: Data of reactive lesions diagnosed between 2011 and 2020 were collected from the files of the Cairo's educational hospitals and institutions. Furthermore, stratification of age, gender and site affection of each individual lesion will be performed. The data were recorded, then analyzed using SPSS software.
Results: Reactive lesions of the oral cavity constituted 10% of all the 21420 registered oral and maxillofacial biopsies. A total of 2142 cases of RLs were collected and reviewed. Of these, irritational fibroma was the common (40.7%) followed by pyogenic granuloma (27%). The gingiva was the most common site, while the anterior part of maxilla was the most frequently affected location. Females were commonly affected than males with ratio (1.8:1). The highest occurrence of reactive lesions was found with patients in the third and fourth decades.
Conclusions: There were some similarities as well as differences between our results and those of preceding studies involving different populations. we observed an obvious geographic variation in the relative frequencies of various reactive lesions in Cairo governorate. The corresponding prevalence of RLs in various nations can be retrospectively analyzed to improve knowledge of RLs, which is crucial for pathologists and oral and maxillofacial surgeons