Zeitschrift für Lungenmedizin

Excellence in Care of Vocal Cord Leukoplakia

Lee M Akst

This presentation will comprehensively review evaluation and management of laryngeal leukoplakia. Though “white vocal fold lesions” are common, management remains challenging – doing ‘too little’ may allow precancerous lesions to progress, while doing ‘too much’ may create unnecessary dysphonia through scar. I will present a framework for management of leukoplakia which balances oncologic with functional outcomes, with the goal of achieving disease control without creating scar. State-of-the-art advances in care of leukoplakia will be emphasized, and surgical techniques discussed will include role of infusion, use of the KTP laser, and microflap resection of diseased epithelium. Advanced use of the KTP laser for office treatment of laryngeal dysplasia, an important part of my own practice and something which is only available in a limited number of centers worldwide, will be discussed as well, to include appropriate anesthesia techniques for office-based procedures. Epidemiology of leukoplakia, rates of progression to malignancy, and role of office-based biopsy will be reviewed. Though focus will be on KTP laser strategies as these represent cutting edge approached to management of this disease, I will also discuss cold instrument and CO2 laser techniques so that the audience, regardless of the tools available to them in their own practices, will be able to transition techniques learned in this presentation to care of their own patients. Approaches to anterior commissure involvement, bilateral disease, and multiply recurrent dysplasia will be discussed through case presentations which should increase audience interest