An evaluation of in-office flexible fiber-optic biopsies for laryngopharyngeal lesions.

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An evaluation of in-office flexible fiber-optic biopsies for laryngopharyngeal lesions.

J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2018 May 09;47(1):31

Authors: Lee F, Smith KA, Chandarana S, Matthews TW, Bosch JD, Nakoneshny SC, Dort JC

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Operative endoscopy and flexible fiber-optic in-office tissue biopsy are common techniques to assess suspicious laryngopharyngeal lesions.
METHODS: The primary outcome was the delay to the initiation of treatment. Secondary outcomes were delay to biopsy, histopathological diagnosis, and assessment at a multidisciplinary oncology clinic. A retrospective analysis was performed to assess the relative delays between these approaches to biopsy of laryngopharyngeal lesions.
RESULTS: There were 114 patients in the study cohort; 44 in-office and 70 operative endoscopic biopsies). The mean delay from consultation to biopsy was 17.4 days for the operative endoscopy group and 1.3 days for the in-office group. The mean delay from initial otolaryngology consultation to initiation of treatment was 51.7 days and 44.6 days for the operative endoscopy and in-office groups, respectively.
CONCLUSION: In-office biopsy reduced the time from initial consultation to biopsy. The temporal gains via in-office biopsy did not translate into faster access to treatment. This outcome highlights the opportunity to improve access to treatment for patients with early diagnosis.

PMID: 29739442 [PubMed - in process]

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