Utility of ultrasound examination in the diagnosis of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers

The study objective is to evaluate the utility of ultrasound (US) examination in the diagnosis of laryngeal/hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and in the assessment of tumor spread.

Materials and methods. We performed US examination in 100patients (7 females and 93 males) with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer aged between 36 and 85 years. We evaluated vocal cord mobility, condition of the laryngeal cartilages, and tumor invasion to the adjacent tissues within the larynx and beyond it. In all patients, the diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination.

Results. Seventy-five patients had primary laryngeal/hypopharyngeal tumors, whereas the remaining 25patients presented with recurrent cancer. Eighty-one participants were found to have laryngeal cancer; of them, 13 patients had tumors in the supraglottis; 67 patients had tumors located in the glottis; and 1 patient had a tumor of the subglottis. Nineteen patients were diagnosed with hypopharyngeal tumors. We have identified the most typical US signs of laryngeal/hypopharyngeal tumors considering their location and compared the results of US examination with histology of surgical specimens. US examination demonstrated a sensitivity of 94.1 %, accuracy of 91.9 %, efficacy of 47.0 %, and positive predictive value of 97.5 %. Specificity was not evaluated since we had no negative results.

Conclusion. US examination is a highly accurate methodfor the diagnosis of both primary and recurrent laryngeal/hypopharyngeal tumors.

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