The place of cytology in laryngeal diagnosis.

A cytological procedure providing useful supplementary information in the diagnosis of laryngeal malignancy is described. Of 51 patients, 22 had complete correlation with histological examination in confirming a benign condition. Twenty patients had complete correlation in confirming a malignant lesion. Five patients showed cellular atypia in the presence of benign conditions. Three showed atypia, of which 2 were malignant, 1 being unstable histologically but with no evidence of frank malignancy. Ten patients had been irradiated previously; in all cases the distinction between residual disease and no evident disease was correctly diagnosed with respect to the histological appearance.