[Brush cytology and HPV detection in chronic laryngitis and papillomatosis].

BACKGROUND

We investigated the utility of cytologic studies (including follow-up studies) in our specialty in determining the prevalence of human papillomavirus, specifically in the larynx. We utilized Papanicolaou's method of exfoliative cytology and in situ hybridization of the culture (biotin-marked DNA probes).

PATIENTS: 486 patients with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis and 74 patients with papilloma were enrolled in the study.

RESULTS

In 198 typings in 132 patients (59 patients with papilloma, 41 with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis, 17 with cancer, and 15 healthy), we found distributions of the individual types that were independent of the diagnosis. Particularly often, we encountered human papillomavirus types 18 and 31 in the presence of dysplasia, human papillomavirus type 16 in the presence of cancer, and type 11 in general.

CONCLUSIONS

Cytologic examination and human papillomavirus typing of the culture permit us to define a third risk category in addition to the known risk groups smokers and dysplasia patients. Besides this, cytologic follow-up studies can provide further insight into the behavior of preneoplastic epithelial changes.