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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Porcine As a Training Module for Head and Neck Microvascular Reconstruction
Published on: September 29, 2018
Narrow band imaging for head and neck malignancies: Lessons learned from mistakes
Meritxell Valls-Mateus1,2, Anna Nogués-Sabaté1, Jose Luis Blanch1,2
1Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, Spain.
Background:
The accuracy of white light endoscopy in combination with narrow band imaging (WLE + NBI) for diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) does not reach 100%. We evaluated the characteristics of the false-negative and false-positive cases.
Methods:
Five hundred thirty lesions of the upper airways were evaluated. The WLE was followed by NBI examination before performing a biopsy.
Results:
The false-negative lesions (7.36%) were represented by submucosal and non-SCC tumors. Among the 25 non-SCC tumors, 72% did not show any suspicious vascular pattern under NBI. The false-positive lesions (6.04%) were mainly represented by postradiotherapy mucosal changes, ulcers, and infections. Regarding papillomas, NBI accuracy reached 95.32%, although cases with dysplasia were difficult to distinguish from SCC.
Conclusion:
The WLE + NBI improved diagnostic accuracy, but not all lesions were ideally evaluated with current defined patterns. An accurate anamnesis is mandatory, because, in some cases, it may be more relevant than the NBI pattern.
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