After my bleeding experience saw ENT and says it came from the dysplasia that he biopsied in Sept. which was all cancer free, now they aren't so sure and of course I'm scared silly. They will do another biopsy Monday.

I did a search for dysplasia on here and none was found.

Has anyone had any experience with it and how did it ever turn into cancer?

Thank you, Marlene

Marlene,

There are TWO kinds of search here -- One is at the TOP of the Forum pages and searches only the Forums -- The other is at the BOTTOM of the page and searches only outside the Forums (the OC Foundation and the outside world) -- I just did an 'outside' search on dysplasia and came up with five pages of hits...

Here's some info that I got by searching 'dysplasia define'

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The term dysplasia is reserved for lesions showing combinations and degrees of cytologic atypia (e.g., hyperchromatism, increased nuclear size, pleomorphism, dyskeratosis, and increased or (1,18) abnormal mitotic figures). Atypia confined to basilar and parabasilar keratinocytes constitutes mild dysplasia , whereas atypia extending into the midspinous layer is termed moderate dysplasia. When cellular atypia extends to the surface layer, the terms severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ (complete top-to-bottom cytologic atypia) are applied. Architectural changes are also a feature of dysplasia, the most significant being a bulbous or teardrop shape of rete ridges. For oral mucosa in general, up to 20% of clinically defined leukoplakias that are biopsied may exhibit dysplasia; lesions (19) located in the floor of the mouth approach a 40% prevalence of dysplastic change. Dysplastic leukoplakias have a high propensity to progress to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. However, leukoplakias without present evidence of dysplastic changes may progress to dysplasia and subsequently to carcinoma; still, many leukoplakias fail to undergo malignant transformation. (20,21)
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As you can see from my signature, my husband's leukoplakia was initially diagnosed as showing moderate dysplasia (though a fuller excisional biopsy several weeks later found early-stage SCC).

I asked on these boards what that initial diagnosis meant, and here is how Brian responded:

[quote]Dysplasia are those cells which are no longer normal, but they are not really malignant yet...an in-between state, so to speak. Dysplasias also do not always go completely over to the dark side, but they are a step in that direction... and having them removed, or watched very regularly is prudent. Dysplastic leukoplakias can often return after surgical removal, many times done with a laser, sometimes via a blade excision. Keep an eye on things even after the removal from now until forever.[/quote]As for your inability to find any postings about dysplasia, my guess is that you may have inadvertently misspelled dysplasia or didn't make sure that the search included All Open Forums, as I just tried it and got almost 90 hits.

-- Leslie