OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation between clinicopathological characteristics of vocal fold leukoplakia and laryngopharyngeal reflux (LRP).

METHODSOne hundred and thirty-eight patients with vocal leukoplakia who received laryngeal microsurgeries under suspension laryngoscope were recruited in this study. Reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflux finding score (RFS) were measured. The clinical features, pathological characteristics were collected.

RESULTSThere were 129 males and 9 females with a mean age of (53.4 ± 11.5) years. The mean age of patients with severe dysplasia/carcinoma and invasive carcinoma was significantly older than that of inflammation/hyperplasia (F = 6.773, P < 0.05) . In 138 patients, 85 patients (61.6%) were pathologically diagnosed as chronic inflammation or squamous epithelium hyperplasia, 18 patients (13.0%) as mild dysplasia, 10 patients (7.2%) as moderate dysplasia, 15 patients (10.9%) as severe dysplasia/carcinoma in situ and 10 patients (7.2%) as invasive carcinoma. One hundred and twenty-nine patients (93.5%) complained of hoarseness with clinical courses between 7 days and 20 years. 68.5% vocal folds with inflammation/hyperplasia showed nearly normal mucosal waves, and 72.7% to 80.0% vocal folds with moderate or more severe dysplasia showed severe reduced mucosal waves. A correlation existed between the severity of pathological type and the decreased extent of mucosal waves (rank correlation coefficient was 0.427, P < 0.001). The prevalence of LPR diagnosed with RSI > 13 or RFS > 7 was 54.3 %, while the positive rate of RSI was 21.7% and that of RFS was 43.5%. There was no significant differences of the positive rates of RSI and RFS among different pathological types (χ² values 3.537 and 7.619 respectively with both P > 0.05). According to RSI evaluation, the most common reflux symptoms were hoarseness (94.9%), throat clearing (68.8%) and globus sensation (62.3%). The most common RFS findings were posterior commissure hypertrophy (79.7%), thick endolaryngeal mucus (77.5%) and vocal fold edema (70.3%).

CONCLUSIONSThe vocal fold leukoplakia consisted of various pathological types including benign, dysplasia and malignancy. There was a correlation between pathological types and the extent of mucosal waves. About half of the patients with vocal fold leukoplakia existed LPR using RFS and RSI evaluation, but no significant difference of LPR positive rates were observed among different pathological types.