Correlation Between Clinical Diagnosis and Pathological Diagnosis in Laryngeal Lesions

SummaryObjectivesTo evaluate the degree of agreement between the clinical and the pathological diagnosis in patients undergoing laryngeal microsurgery due to epithelial or edematous lesions of the vocal folds.Study designThis is a retrospective study.MethodsThe study was developed in the ear, nose, and throat clinic of a tertiary hospital, through chart review. We included all patients who underwent microsurgery of the larynx, whose videolaryngoscopic tests showed vocal fold lesions, from January 2003 to August 2014. During the study period, we identified 48 patients with epithelial and edematous lesions. The patients were divided into two groups. In group A, patients with edematous lesions with clinical diagnosis of polyps and Reinke edema were included. Group B comprised patients with epithelial lesions, as leukoplakic injuries. A correlation between histopathological findings and clinical hypothesis between these two groups of lesions was performed.ResultsIn group B, there was agreement in 88.9% of cases between the clinical and pathological diagnosis. In group A, compatibility occurred in only 46.4% of cases. We observed a statistically significant difference between the compatibility of the clinical and pathological diagnosis just in edematous lesions (P = 0.029).ConclusionsThe study showed the limitation of the pathological examination on edematous laryngeal lesions. On the other hand, on the epithelial lesions, there was more agreement between those diagnosis.