Prolonged ulcerative laryngitis: a new disease entity.

Over the last decade, a new disease entity, prolonged ulcerative laryngitis (PUL), with unique clinical presentation and prolonged disease course, has been recognized. Until now, very few studies dealing with this disease have been reported in the literature. From 1999 to 2008, we analyzed clinical data from a series of 39 PUL patients who were treated with an observational approach without implementing specific treatments. This disease affects adults, predominantly females. The age of patients in our series ranged from 26 to 76 years with a median of 49.5 years. This disease is characterized by ulcers and signs of acute inflammation on the membranous portion of the vocal folds with a prolonged clinical course. The recovery times of patients ranged from 4 to 20 weeks with an average of 9.4 weeks. The data in this study may reflect a natural history of this disease. PUL seems to be a self-limited disease, but the etiology of this disease is unknown. Specific infections or systemic inflammatory processes involving the larynx must be ruled out before diagnosis, and conservative treatments are suggested.