Clinical and histopathological correlation of nasal polyps: are there any surprises?

Nasal polypectomy is a common operation. There is debate about whether all nasal polyps removed at operation should be sent for histopathological examination. To investigate this, a prospective study was performed to check the correlation of clinical and histopathological examination. Three hundred and forty-four nasal polypectomy specimens during the period from September 1997 to September 1999 were sent for histopathological diagnosis, with the clinical diagnosis documented on the pathology form. The clinical diagnosis was then correlated with the histological diagnosis. Three hundred and twenty-eight specimens were diagnosed as inflammatory polyps and 16 as tumours, of which seven were malignant. There was a good correlation between the clinical and histological findings in 340 cases. There was disagreement between the forms and reports in four cases. When the notes were consulted, three cases had forms that were incorrectly filled in. There was only one unsuspected case of inverted papilloma in a polyp specimen, which looked like a benign inflammatory polyp. This study indicates there is a 99.7% correlation between clinical and histopathological diagnosis.