Medically reviewed by Holly McCain. Last updated on July 30, 2024
ORASCAN
Germiphene
Toluidine Blue O
Oral Cancer Diagnostic System
Indications And Clinical Uses: As an oral cancer diagnostic and to establish borders for biopsy and surgical site selection.
Precautions: Any use of OraScan must be done after a visual inspection of the oral cavity, and before any instrumentation of soft tissues. OraScan should be used after a complete head and neck cancer exam. Two types of lesions will stain: squamous cell carcinoma and inflamed traumatic. To differentiate, the patient with a positive test is required to be retested in 10 to 14 days to eliminate inflamed traumatic lesions which will have healed in this time. A second positive makes biopsy mandatory.
Pregnancy: At present there have not been controlled clinical studies with OraScan and pregnant women, hence it is not suggested for their use at this time.
Children: Use of OraScan is not recommended for children.
Carcinogenesis: In more than 30 years of use in humans, toluidine blue has not been observed as a cause of any cancer.
Adverse Reactions: There is no known allergy or other reactions to the stain materials (toluidine blue has been used i.v. for other applications). There may be a prolonged stain of the vermilion border, dorsum of the tongue and dental plaque, which usually wears off in 4 to 6 hours. Care should be taken to protect clothing as well as equipment and environmental surfaces from being stained. Patients may experience a slight burning sensation. Restorative materials including porcelain, composites and acrylics do not stain permanently.
Dosage: 10 mL solution of 1% toluidine blue O.
Availability And Storage: OraScan is a 3 component system. One component is a flavored 1% toluidine blue O solution. The other two are pre- and post-rinse solutions consisting of flavored 1% acetic acid.
ORASCAN Germiphene Toluidine Blue O Oral Cancer Diagnostic System
About Holly McCain