Histopathological features of juvenile-onset laryngeal papillomatosis related to severity

Abstract

Background: Laryngeal papillomatosis (LP) is a disease that presents in both juvenile (JLP) and adult patients (ALP). This study correlated papillomatosis characteristics with the Derkay score.

Methods: Retrospective data and biopsies of 36 patients with JLP and 56 with ALP were collected and separated into groups according to their scores.

Results: The mean of the Derkay score, in the JLP group was 10.97 and in Group ALP was 8.26. The JLP group presented a more aggressive result than in the adult group (P = .02). In the JLP group, the respiratory difficulty (P = .01) and tracheostomy were correlated to a higher Derkay score (P < .05). Microscopically, the JLP samples presented a higher incidence of atypical mitosis and mitosis above the basal cells layer of the epithelium (P < .05) and these characteristics were correlated with a higher Derkay index (P = .03).

Conclusion: Findings suggest that ALP and JLP can present different clinical courses and histopathological features. There was a higher degree of LP severity in JLP.

Keywords: Papillomaviridae; epidemiology; histopathology; papilloma.