Efficacy of lycopene in management of Oral Submucous Fibrosis- A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of lycopene in the management of Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF).

STUDY

DESIGN

A comprehensive search was done in MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane, EBSCO-host and Google scholar from July 31st, 1999 to July 31st, 2019 to identify OSMF related clinical trials (Randomized and Non-randomized) involving lycopene as one of the intervention.

RESULTS

16 randomized control trials and 3 non-randomized control trials comprising 1181 subjects were included. The results of meta-analysis showed non-significant differences between lycopene and other interventions used in the treatment of OSMF.

CONCLUSION

The present review suggests that lycopene is a safe and equally effective therapeutic modality as compared to other interventions for patients with OSMF. Further well-designed clinical trials are required to accurately assess the effectiveness of lycopene as compared to other medicinal treatments in the management of OSMF.