Abstract
A clinical and histological study was conducted from 1971 to 1992 on 51 cases (44 males and 7 females) who, on their first visit to the clinics of Kitasato University Hospital or Kitasato Institute Medical Center Hospital, were diagnosed as having epithelial hyperplasia of the larynx. The patients were classified into three groups based on subsequent histological findings : 1. Hyperplasia with atypia (7 cases), 2. Hyperplasia without atypia (39 cases), and 3. Carcinoma (5 cases). As for incidence by age groupings, epithelial hyperplasia was seen most frequently in subjects in their fifties, followed by those in their forties and sixties thereafter. The chief complaints were hoarseness (in 46 out of 51), difficulty in expectrating sputum, throat discomfort and coughing. The lesion was most commonly observed in the anterior 1/3 of the vocal cord, although diffuse involvement of the vocal cord was not seldomly seen. There was no positive relationship between the frequency of recurrence after surgical removal of the lesion and the degree of atypism. Subepitherial inflammation was often observed similarly in the two groups of epitherial hyperplasia. In those cases who were diagnosed as having carcinoma, subepitherial inflammatory reaction was relatively severe.
