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Proposal for a descriptive guideline of vascular changes in lesions of the vocal folds by the committee on endoscopic laryngeal imaging of the European Laryngological Society

  • Laryngology
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Abstract

In the last decades new endoscopic tools have been developed to improve the diagnostic work-up of vocal fold lesions in addition to normal laryngoscopy, i.e., contact endoscopy, autofluorescence, narrow band imaging and others. Better contrasted and high definition images offer more details of the epithelial and superficial vascular structure of the vocal folds. Following these developments, particular vascular patterns come into focus during laryngoscopy. The present work aims at a systematic pathogenic description of superficial vascular changes of the vocal folds. Additionally, new nomenclature on vascular lesions of the vocal folds will be presented to harmonize the different terms in the literature. Superficial vascular changes can be divided into longitudinal and perpendicular. Unlike longitudinal vascular lesions, e.g., ectasia, meander and change of direction, perpendicular vascular lesions are characterized by different types of vascular loops. They are primarily observed in recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, and in pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions of the vocal folds. These vascular characteristics play a significant role in the differential diagnosis. Among different parameters, e.g., epithelial changes, increase of volume, stiffness of the vocal fold, vascular lesions play an increasing role in the diagnosis of pre- and cancerous lesions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

    Christoph Arens & Susanne Voigt-Zimmermann

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Cesare Piazza

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Mario Andrea

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Frederik G. Dikkers & Robin E. A. Tjon Pian Gi

  5. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Giorgio Peretti

Authors
  1. Christoph Arens
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  2. Cesare Piazza
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  3. Mario Andrea
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  4. Frederik G. Dikkers
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  5. Robin E. A. Tjon Pian Gi
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  6. Susanne Voigt-Zimmermann
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  7. Giorgio Peretti
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Correspondence to Christoph Arens.

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Arens, C., Piazza, C., Andrea, M. et al. Proposal for a descriptive guideline of vascular changes in lesions of the vocal folds by the committee on endoscopic laryngeal imaging of the European Laryngological Society. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 273, 1207–1214 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-015-3851-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-015-3851-y

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