Interrater variation of vascular classifications used in enhanced laryngeal contact endoscopy.

Purpose: Combined use of contact endoscopy (CE) and Narrow Band Imaging (NBI, Olympus) is suggested for the visualization of specific vascular changes indicative of glottic neoplasia. We investigated the interrater reliability and agreement in 3 recognized classification systems of vascular changes applied to images from CE + NBI in patients suspected for glottic neoplasia.

Methods: Six experienced head and neck surgeons familiar with NBI rated 120 images obtained by CE + NBI by 3 classification systems of vascular changes as suggested by Ni et al.

Retention of the arginine allele in codon 72 of the p53 gene correlates with poor apoptosis in head and neck cancer.

The allele constitution at codon 72 of the p53 gene (CGC-arginine or CCC-proline) plays a major role in inducing apoptosis in p53 mutant cells. To verify this, we determined GC-status, p53-mutations, and p53-loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in a group of 54 squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN). A novel approach, using a one-step real-time PCR analysis with fluorescent hybridization probes, was applied to detect the GC status in tumors and corresponding blood samples.