Advances in endoscopic diagnosis of dysplasia and carcinoma of the larynx

To improve the preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis of laryngeal cancer and its precursors, various endoscopic imaging techniques have been developed in recent years. These techniques differ markedly in their specific applications and goals. Precisely distinguishing among normal mucosa, dysplasia and invasive carcinoma with these procedures is necessary. Furthermore, the exact identification of tumor margins should be possible. The long-term goal is the development of optical biopsy. Since so far there have only been small studies regarding the evaluation of the presented methods, it is necessary to establish multi-center trials with large sample sizes to accurately estimate the value of these endoscopic imaging techniques.