[Use of tissue autofluorescence in the diagnostics and assessment of treatment efficacy of the head end neck cancer].

There are still serious diagnostic and therapeutic challenges in case of carcinoma of the larynx, pharynx and oral cavity most often in patients after radiotherapy. An appropriate choice of a site to take a specimen for histopathology is crucial with regard to establish a diagnosis and find an origin of primary lesion and local recurrence. In this regard our attention is focused on those diagnostic methods which enable to detect even small pathologic lesions. Among them is tissue autofluorescence (DAFE). Its advantages are non-invasiveness, high sensitivity and repeatability. The aim of the study was to validate DAFE as a method for early diagnosis and monitoring of treatment efficacy of head and neck cancers. Forty seven patients were included. Each patient had a fibroscopic investigation with the use of white light and light inducing the tissue fluorescence. A specimen for the histopathology was taken from each site which showed fluorescence in order to verify the diagnosis. The presence of neoplastic lesions was always confirmed with histopathology in parallel with the assessment of the lesion area with fluorescence. DAFE is a non-invasive and useful method for the detection of early cancer lesions with the potential to assess the advances of the disease and to monitor its progress.