Abstract
BACKGROUND: Perpendicular vascular changes (PVC) are markers of tumor-induced neoangiogenesis at the vocal folds. Contact endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (CE-NBI) allows a detailed analysis of such vascular changes. OBJECTIVE: This work intends to evaluate the potential of CE-NBI for diagnosis of benign, dysplastic, and malignant lesions of the vocal folds. In addition, it should be determined whether CE-NBI offers an additional benefit in detecting PVC compared to white-light endoscopy (WLE) and NBI alone. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three examiners evaluated histologically verified cases of benign, dysplastic, and malignant lesions of the larynx in WLE, NBI, and CE-NBI (n = 60). In each mode, they examined the lesion for PVC and assessed the lesion's dignity. The proportion of lesions with detected PVC, the statistical measures of performance in detecting high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma, and the interrater variability for each mode were calculated. RESULTS: CE-NBI proved superior to the other investigated diagnostic methods in terms of detecting PVC and in terms of sensitivity and accuracy in the diagnosis of high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma. A clear association of such pathologies with PVC was seen. CONCLUSION: CE-NBI detects PVC more frequently and reliably than the other methods investigated. The association of these vascular patterns to high-grade dysplasia and vocal fold carcinomas could be confirmed. Compared to WLE and NBI endoscopy, the diagnostic quality for detecting high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma is increased. Thus, CE-NBI can improve endoscopic differentiation between benign and malignant lesions of the vocal folds by enhancing the detection of PVC.