Laryngeal dysplasia. A clinicopathologic study

Histologic changes that may predict irreversible neoplastic transformation remain poorly defined for lesions of the larynx. To date, more than 20 schemes for the classification of laryngeal dysplasia have been proposed, yet no one system has gained wide acceptance. This has led to considerable confusion in defining the pathogenesis of this process and controversy in selecting the optimal management strategy of patients with premalignant changes of the larynx.

A detailed and systematic review was made of 125 laryngeal biopsies from 62 patients with laryngeal squamous cell dysplasia who received long term follow-up (mean, 74 months). Various histopathologic parameters were assessed in an attempt to define the prognostic importance of each parameter for progression from atypia to invasive carcinoma.

Five parameters were found to be significantly different when comparing lesions that progressed to carcinoma with those that remained stable or resolved: abnormal mitotic figures, mitotic activity, stromal inflammation, maturation level, and nuclear pleomorphism. Surface morphology, nucleolar prominence, and koilocytosis were not significantly different when comparing the two groups. Surface keratin formation did not suggest improved prognosis for patients with lesions with other features of dysplasia.

These findings suggest that within the laryngeal glottis, severe keratinizing dysplasia occurs more frequently than does classic carcinoma in situ, and both entities likely represent intraepithelial neoplastic transformation.