Usefulness of office examination with narrow band imaging for the diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and follow-up of premalignant lesions.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of narrow band imaging (NBI) examination in the office for the diagnosis and follow-up of upper airway premalignant and malignant lesions.

Methods: Four hundred eighty lesions were evaluated with white light endoscopy (WLE) and NBI before a biopsy/excision. Additionally, 151 premalignant lesions were followed up without proven biopsy. Carcinoma-free survival was calculated. The learning curve was analyzed.

Results: Overall, the accuracy improved from 74.1% with WLE to 88.9% with NBI, being relevant in all anatomic subsites. The accuracy of NBI increased significantly with increasing experience (area under the curve [AUC] >0.9). After a follow-up of 25 months, 14 of 151 lesions (9.3%) converted into carcinoma. The 4-year carcinoma-free survival rate was 86.4%. The 4-year carcinoma-free survival rate differed significantly between lesions classified as benign/mild dysplasia versus those presenting as moderate/severe dysplasia (88.9% vs 73.5%; P = .018).

Conclusion: The NBI provided a greater accuracy than WLE and showed promising usefulness for the follow-up of premalignant lesions.