[Cytologic findings on chronic inflammatory disease of the vocal folds]

The usefulness of cytologic diagnosis in laryngeal pathology is still controversial, also in the cytopathologist's opinion. A sampling procedure such as routine cytodiagnosis can be considered useful for both diagnosis and treatment of non-surgically related laryngeal diseases. This study was designed in order to demonstrate how cytodiagnosis can be useful in etiologic and pathogenetic diagnosis of chronic non-specific inflammatory diseases of the vocal folds. Cytologic sampling was carried out on brushing material of simple and hyperplastic laryngeal inflammations and on normal vocarfolds which were used as control. Through cytologic examination it was possible to evidence specific morphological findings which allowed differentiation of not only healthy from diseased vocal cords, but also hyperplastic from simple inflammatory processes. Moreover, the high incidence of goblet cells and cylindric squamous metaplasia in hyperplastic corditis, as well as the frequent presence of fungal involvement in the simple forms, prompted the Authors to hypothesize pathogenetic mechanisms as well as progression inducing factors of the pathologies in question.