LARYNGEAL PAPILLOMA - PRECANCEROUS CONDITION

In a group of 179 patients treated for recurrent laryngeal papillomato sis 668 surgeries were performed in the years 1982-1995 in the Departm ent of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Prague. The group was divided into 77 patients with a juvenile form of papillomatosis a nd 102 patients with an adult form. The adult form was then divided in to a multiple (65 patients) and solitary form (37 patients). Three pat ients with a juvenile form of papillomatosis were irradiated in advanc e. None of these patients developed a carcinoma. There were 3 cases (1 .7%) of carcinoma in the whole group of patients with histologically v erified papillomas during repeated previous surgeries, All 3 patients with malignancy had an adult form of papillomatosis, two with a multip le form and one with a solitary form. The intervals between the first treatment for papilloma and the diagnosis of carcinoma was 8, 3 and 2 years. The rates of malignant transformation of papillomas vary in the literature. We suppose, that because of the generally long interval b etween the diagnosis of papilloma and that of carcinoma, to make a fin al conclusion of a certain ratio is very difficult. We envisage that i n our group of patients with papillomatosis new cases of carcinoma wil l occur in the future.