Narrow Band Imaging

Abstract

Narrow band imaging (NBI) is supposed to be a technique for a better visualization of vessel structures in superficial tissue as it selects the wavelengths of hemoglobin. It was hypothesized that, in the regular follow-up examination of patients with recurrent laryngeal papillomatosis, NBI enables a better detection of laryngeal papillomatosis in contrast to normal white light endoscopy. Eleven patients, 10 with a known recurrent papillomatosis (8 with a relapse, 2 without) and 1 with a primary diagnosis of papillomatosis, were examined with normal white light and NBI endoscopy. Twenty-six video sequences (11 white, 11 NBI, 4 doubled for validity) were generated and randomly presented to 20 otolaryngologists who rated the videos in terms of lesions seen and number of lesions identified. Results were compared with the histopathologic findings of microlaryngoscopy. Detection of papillomatosis and the correct number of lesions identified were more accurate with NBI than with normal white light endoscopy. There was a significantly higher probability of detecting laryngeal papillomata with NBI. NBI endoscopy enables a more accurate detection of laryngeal papillomatosis than white light endoscopy.