The value of narrow band imaging combined with stroboscopy for the detection of applanate indiscernible early-stage vocal cord cancer.

Background: Narrow band imaging (NBI) and stroboscopy are non-invasive techniques to detect the malignant lesions of the vocal cord. This study was to assess the diagnostic value of combined endoscopic analysis in the applanate indiscernible early-stage vocal cord cancer. Methods: A total of 110 patients with 160 suspicious vocal cord malignant lesions were included in this retrospective study. Stroboscopy was immediately performed after NBI and white light endoscopy (WLE) were performed in all patients. Excisional biopsy was performed to examine histopathology examination. Results: We found that the diagnostic specificity and PPV were higher in the NBI and WLE combined with stroboscopy group than in the NBI and WLE group without stroboscopy (88.9% vs 72.5%, 88.4% vs 60.9%). However, the diagnostic sensitivity was not significantly different in those two groups (69.3% vs 67.7%). Conclusion: NBI and WLE combined with stroboscopy is a promising method to detect early-stage vocal cord cancer with the advantage of clinical feasibility and diagnostic specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]