Artificial intelligence for classification and detection of oral mucosa lesions on photographs: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to review and synthesize studies using artificial intelligence (AI) for classifying, detecting, or segmenting oral mucosal lesions on photographs.Materials and methodInclusion criteria were (1) studies employing AI to (2) classify, detect, or segment oral mucosa lesions, (3) on oral photographs of human subjects. Included studies were assessed for risk of bias using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2). A PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, IEEE, arXiv, medRxiv, and grey literature (Google Scholar) search was conducted until June 2023, without language limitation.ResultsAfter initial searching, 36 eligible studies (from 8734 identified records) were included. Based on QUADAS-2, only 7 of studies were at low risk of bias for all domains. Studies employed different AI models and reported a wide range of outcomes and metrics. The accuracy of AI for detecting oral mucosal lesions ranged from 74 to 100, while that for clinicians un-aided by AI ranged from 61 to 98. Pooled diagnostic odds ratio for studies which evaluated AI for diagnosing or discriminating potentially malignant lesions was 155 (95 confidence interval 23-1019), while that for cancerous lesions was 114 (59-221).ConclusionsAI may assist in oral mucosa lesion screening while the expected accuracy gains or further health benefits remain unclear so far.Clinical relevanceArtificial intelligence assists oral mucosa lesion screening and may foster more targeted testing and referral in the hands of non-specialist providers, for example. So far, it remains unclear if accuracy gains compared with specialized can be realized.