3 A diagnostic study involved the consideration of suspicious oral mucosal lesions by clinical assessment and by “gold standard”

histopathology (Güneri et al. 2011). Of the 13 lesions histologically diagnosed with serious pathology, 12 had signs of serious or suspicious pathology on clinical assessment. The 30 lesions that were found to be benign on histological examination included 17 with indications of serious or suspicious pathology on clinical assessment.
(i) What is meant by the term “gold standard” in this context?
(ii) Defi ne sensitivity and specifi city in terms of the above study.
(iii) Indicate the values of the sensitivity and specifi city as fractions.
(iv) Comment on the usefulness of the clinical assessment in identifying suspicious oral mucosal lesions and the implications of this for potential patients.