Open Wide and Say “Aaahhh” to Diagnose HNPCC?

Screening for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) typically requires gene testing, which is not 100% accurate because some mutations are ambiguous. Previous evidence of vascular aberrations in the oral mucosa of an HNPCC kindred (Gut 2003; 52:1764) suggested that abnormal light reflectance off the surface of the oral mucosa could distinguish HNPCC patients from healthy people. Now, researchers have tested their hypothesis that a subclinical extracellular matrix abnormality exists in carriers of HNPCC-associated mutations.

Twenty members of six genetically unrelated HNPCC kindreds were matched, by age and sex, with 30 genetically unrelated healthy controls. Color images of the oral mucosa were rendered using an imaging spectroph…