Abstract
The purpose of this study was to observe the clinical characteristics of laryngeal epithelial hyperplasia and investigate how many cases developed carcinoma.
A total of 119 patients with epithelial hyperplasia of the larynx were treated with endolaryngeal microsurgery from January 1991 to April 2005 at the Kurume University Hospital. 90 cases were treated with combined endolaryngeal microscopic CO2 laser surgery. 29 cases were treated with endolaryngeal microscopic stripping alone. The majority of the patients were male and smokers. The range of age for the majority of patients was from 50 to 70 years. Histopathologically, there was simple hyperplasia in 61 cases, mild dysplasia in 32 cases, moderate dysplasia in 15 cases and severe dysplasia in 11 cases. After the treatment, recurrence was found in 20 cases (17%); from which there were 9 cases (15%) of simple hyperplasia and 11 cases (19%) of dysplasia. 12 cases (10%) developed to carcinoma; among which there were 4 cases (7%) with simple hyperplasia and 8 cases (14%) with dysplasia. 3 cases were finally treated with total laryngectomy.
These results indicate that, in laryngeal epithelial hyperplasia (with either of simple hyperplasia or dysplasia), careful follow up is necessary to exclude a change to carcinoma.
