Assessment of Agreement between Clinical Diagnosis and Pathologic Report in the Soft Tissue Lesions of the Patients Referring to Pathology Department of Dental School, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences During 2005-2008

Introduction: Agreement between clinical and pathologic diagnoses plays an important role in an appropriate treatment plan and it may also prevent serious side effects and problems in patients. This study was conducted to assess the agreement between clinical diagnoses and pathologic reports in soft tissue lesions of patients referring to pathology department of dental school, Tehran and shahid Beheshti university of medical sciences during 2005-2008. Methods: In this retrospective and descriptive study, 300 soft tissue lesions of patients referring to pathology department were selected by census sampling method and then were analyzed. The lesions were classified according to the criteria proposed by reference pathology textbooks and the data records regarding the patients age, gender and clinical and pathologic diagnoses were noted. Concordance between two diagnoses was determined by descriptive statistics. Results: In this study, pathologic findings were golden standard (definitive diagnoses). The results showed the concordance between two clinical and pathologic diagnoses were more than 0/7 except POF and pemphigus. Conclusion: The results showed that the surgeons of oral and maxillofacial surgery in dental departments of Tehran and shahid Beheshti university of medical science provided acceptable diagnoses regarding pathologic lesions during 2005-2008. However, even the slight differences between two diagnoses necessitate all patients to be evaluated clinically and paraclinically in order to propose an accurate scientific diagnosis and prevent the harmful outcomes of the disease. Furthermore most efforts must be done to make more agreements between clinical and pathological diagnoses.