The VELscope is a hand-held device that provides dentists and hygienists with an easy-to-integrate adjunctive mucosal examination system for the early detection of a wide variety of oral diseases, including pre-cancer and cancer. Used in conjunction with the conventional intra-oral and extra-oral head and neck exam, the VELscope facilitates the discovery of mucosal abnormalities before they become visible under ordinary light. The VELscope is the only non-invasive adjunctive device clinically proven to help discover occult oral disease.

How Does the VELscope Work?
The VELscope handpiece emits a safe blue light into the oral cavity, which excites natural fluorophores from the surface of the epithelium through to the basement membrane (where premalignant changes typically begin) and into the stroma beneath, causing it to fluoresce. The VELscope's proprietary filter makes fluorescence visualization possible, by blocking reflected blue light, and by enhancing the contrast between normal and abnormal tissue.

Is the VELscope a Diagnostic Tool?

Like other visualization technologies, such as panoramic radiography, CT, MRI, PET and ultrasound, the VELscope is NOT a stand-alone diagnostic test. However, used in conjunction with the standard oral soft tissue exam, VELscope provides visual information that cannot be acquired in any other way.

Does the VELscope Generate "False Positives" for Oral Cancer?

False positives occur when a diagnostic test mistakenly signals the presence of disease. The VELscope system is NOT a diagnostic test, and does not, consequently, generate false positives. As an adjunctive visualization tool, the VELscope helps dental professionals discover a wide range of unhealthy tissue in the mouth, including oral pre-cancer and cancer.

VELscope: Impressive New Findings
A recent 620-patient study at the University of Washington has provided additional insights into VELscope's potential. Within a dental school setting, the addition of VELscope to routine clinical examinations resulted in the detection of a number of mucosal abnormalities not detected by the conventional exam. Importantly, these abnormalities included not only a number of dysplasias, but also lichen planus and other inflammatory lesions.

The study highlights an aspect of VELscope that is sometimes overlooked. In addition to the detection of oral cancers and pre-cancers, the VELscope system is showing itself to be a powerful tool for the discovery of mucosal abnormalities such as:

• Viral, fungal and bacterial infections
• Inflammation from a variety of causes (including lichen planus
  and other lichenoid reactions)
• Squamous papillomas
• Salivary gland tumours.