VISUALIZATION OF THE LARYNX AND HYPOPHARYNX AT THE TIME OF ROUTINE UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL ENDOSCOPY

Abstract

A retrospective study was attempted to know a diagnostic yield of visualization of the larynx and hypopharynx at the time of routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Among consecutive 17, 388 endoscopies, 41 lesions were found in the larynx and hypopharynx. The incidence of abnormalities was 0.24%. Twenty-eight of the 41 lesions were benign. Thirteen lesions (10 patients) were diagnosed to be malignant. Hypopharyngeal cancer and laryngeal cancer were detected in 7 and 1 patients, respectively. The remaining 2 patients had a lesion of hypopharyngeal invasion of esophageal cancer. Five of 8 patients with hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancer had synchronous or metachronous cancer (2 patients with laryngeal cancer, 2 patients with esophageal cancer, l patient with rectal cancer and primary hepatoma). Although all of the 10 patients with malignant lesion were symptomatic, barium meal X-ray did not reveal any abnormalitis in 5 patients. We recommend to draw attention to routine observation of the larynx and hypopharynx at the time of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.