Role of Narrow Band Imaging in Laryngeal Lesions: A Prospective Study from Southern India

To assess the utility of Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) as a diagnostic tool in evaluating laryngeal pathology in patients presenting with hoarseness. Study design: Prospective cross sectional diagnostic study. Methods: 200 patients with voice change were recruited and laryngeal findings documented with high definition flexible endoscopy with both white light and narrow band light and the representative still images recorded for analysis. The NBI intraepithelial papillary capillary loop (IPCL) patterns was compared with the histopathology report. Of the 200 patients evaluated, 84 lesions were biopsied which included both benign and malignant lesions. The sensitivity obtained was 73.3% [54.1-87.7% with 95% CI] and the specificity was 87% [75.1-94.6% with 95% CI] for detecting malignant lesions. NBI can be considered as a useful diagnostic tool in evaluating laryngeal pathology and can be used to detect early premalignant and malignant lesions.