Early diagnostic signs and symptoms of laryngeal disease.

Abstract

A compilation of late and early symptoms of patients who ultimately were found to have laryngeal disease was carried out. Notation of even minor changes in the indirect laryngoscopic appearance of the same patients was made routinely. Correlation of symptoms with signs has made possible a better understanding of the natural history of certain laryngeal lesions such as contact ulcer, polyps, nodes, dysphonia plica ventricularis as well as some of the pareses, paralyses and fixations. Identical early symptoms and numerous signs have apparently been ignored in subsequently proven cases of cancer of the larynx. The expanded list of symptoms (33 in number) and the detailed list of signs (54 in number) may now assist the Otolaryngologist in earlier diagnosis. Although the reported findings are not specifically diagnostic of cancer of the larynx, they should draw earlier attention to the larynx as the etiological site of such symptoms. Earlier recognition of minor laryngeal changes, as detailed in the text, should lead to earlier biopsy and tissue diagnosis, earlier and more enlightened public awareness, and earlier and, therefore, more effective utilization of present day day modalities in the management of carcinoma of the larynx.