Physicians and surgeons must be vigilant of the diagnosis of cervical necrotizing fasciitis as early clinical findings may be subtle and prompt identification to facilitate aggressive intervention is required to preclude catastrophic local and systemic morbidity and mortality.
LNR is potentially an independent predictor of outcome in patients with metastatic cutaneous nodal SCC. The clinical relevance of this finding requires further validation.
Introduction
Narrowband imaging (NBI) is a special endoscopic optical enhancement setting allowing better visualization of mucosal microvasculature compared to white light endoscopy. This study evaluates the validity of NBI using the Ni classification in the detection and differentiation of severe dysplasia (SD) and glottic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
Methods
Patients with suspicious vocal cord lesions underwent conventional white light endoscopy followed by clinically indicated biopsy. At the same time, NBI images were obtained and graded independently. Lesions were graded from I to V according to the Ni classification and compared to histopathological findings.
Results
Fifty‐two patients were included in this study (40 SCC and 12 SD). The sensitivity and specificity of NBI in diagnosing laryngeal cancer was 95.0% (CI, 83.9%‐99.4%) and 83.3% (CI, 51.6%‐97.9%), respectively. The negative likelihood ratio was 0.06. Higher Ni grades correlated very strongly with more advanced disease.
Conclusions
NBI using the Ni classification is a sensitive diagnostic tool for the detection and differentiation of early neoplastic and preneoplastic glottic lesions. As higher Ni classification correlates strongly with advanced disease, it serves as a useful adjunct to white light endoscopy in the diagnosis of laryngeal cancer.
Level of Evidence: Level IV.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.