Goblet cells in the laryngeal mucosa in benign diseases of the larynx.

Pieces of mucosa were removed from the subglottis, the entrance into the sinus of Morgagni, and from the ventricular fold in 82 patients with benign diseases of the larynx. The goblet cells in these specimens were studied morphologically and quantitatively by an elective staining method and a whole mount technique. In 38 patients, the clinical and histological findings indicated an inflammatory disease in the form of chronic laryngitis or laryngeal edema. In 44 patients, the diagnosis was a nonmalignant tumorous lesion, such as papilloma, polyp, or cyst. These findings were compared with a similar study of goblet cells in normal larynges. In the inflammatory group as well as in the tumor group, the goblet cell density in the subglottis and ventricular fold proved to be lower than in normal larynges, but significantly lower only on the ventricular fold. This finding is assumed to be a result of the increased turbulence of the respiratory air, due to the disease process in the glottic fissure, which causes a greater contact surface between the mucosa and the respiratory air. In the close vicinity of the tumorous lesion there was a reduced, but not significantly reduced, goblet cell density, possibly caused by a tumor-initiated metaplasia to an epithelium poor in goblet cells. There were no morphological differences in goblet cells between the two disease groups and the normal larynges.