Role of narrow band imaging in the detection of malignant lesions of the oropharynx and the laryngopharynx

Abstract

Objective:To explore the role of narrow band imaging (NBI) endoscopy in the diagnosis of oropharyngeal and laryngopharyngeal lesions. Method:NBI and white light (WLI) endoscopy were performed on 90 patients with oropharyngeal and laryngopharyngeal lesions from August 2016 to May 2017. NBI findings were classified into 5 types according to the Ni classification and were compared with histopathological results. Accuracy of NBI on premalignant and malignant lesions were compared with WLI. The connection between NBI findings and phathological results were explored. Result:Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of NBI vs WLI were 988% vs 83.7%, 89.2% vs 86.5%, 95.5% vs 93.5%, and 97.1% vs 69.6%, respectively NBI findings were highly consistent with the phathological results (kappa=0.901,P<0.01). However, consistency between WLI findings and the phathological results was relatively low (kappa=0.657,P<0.01). NBI was more accurate in diagnosing both premalignant (P<0.01) and malignant lesions (especially for high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia, (P<0.01) than WLI. NBI findings correlated with the phathological results (r=0.820, P<0.01). Conclusion:NBI shows high accuracy in detecting premalignant and malignant lesions of oropharynx and laryngopharynx; Ni's NBI classification helps to diagnose the premalignant and early malignant lesions and evaluate tumor invasion. Thus, NBI can contribute more in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of premalignant and malignant lesions of oropharynx and laryngopharynx.