In‐office biopsy of upper airway lesions: Safety, tolerance, and effect on time to treatment

Abstract

High procedural completion rate was observed across patients, sites, and approaches. All patients should be considered for in-office biopsy, a more time- and cost-effective option leading to earlier treatment.

Safety of flexible endoscopic biopsy of the pharynx and larynx under topical anesthesia

“…However, before a diagnostic method is implemented in clinical practice, several factors need to be considered [14]. First, the safety of office-based FEB for laryngopharyngeal lesions has to be determined.…”

“…Office-based laryngeal FEB is reported to be safe [6, 12–14], feasible [6], cost-effective [12, 15], and easy to perform [13, 16]. The advantages are an awake patient who is sitting in an upright position and able to control laryngeal function during the procedure, which can result in adequate visualization of the designated lesion [10].…”

“…The advantages are an awake patient who is sitting in an upright position and able to control laryngeal function during the procedure, which can result in adequate visualization of the designated lesion [10]. Furthermore, there is avoidance of general anesthesia with possible health benefits [14, 17]. Its costs are relatively low compared with examination and biopsy under general anesthesia [12, 15].…”

“…Due to the relative novelty of this office-based procedure, few studies are available and complication rates have been assessed in small sample sizes [6, 7, 12–14, 19]. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the complications of transnasal FEB under topical anesthesia in patients with benign and malignant laryngopharyngeal lesions.…”

Evaluation of the Dysphonic Patient (in: Function Preservation in Laryngeal Cancer)

“…[49][50][51] In-office biopsy bypasses risks involved with anesthesia, negates the need to manage a difficult intubation, and reduces the overall cost of treatment. This report demonstrated that in-office biopsy reduces the cost of tissue diagnosis from approximately $9000 to $2000, while reducing the time to overall treatment from approximately 48 days to 24 days.…”