Can leukoplakia in the throat turn into cancer?

When many people have their throats checked in the hospital, the doctor tells them that they have leukoplakia in the throat. Leukoplakia in the throat is a common throat lesion. White patches appear on the lining of the throat, and most patients will have hoarseness and dryness of the voice, difficulty breathing, and indirect throat diseases, which have a greater impact on people's health. In normal times, we should pay attention to the control and reasonable prevention of leukoplakia in the throat, and actively use micro-surgery methods for treatment.

Can leukoplakia of the larynx turn into cancer?

Laryngeal leukoplakia refers to the appearance of white patches on the surface of the laryngeal mucosa, which is a lamellar keratotic hyperplastic lesion. Patients often experience symptoms such as hoarseness, slight pain or dryness in the throat, and difficulty breathing. Through indirect laryngoscopy or optical laryngoscopy, gray-white plaque-like protrusions can be seen on the surface of the patient's vocal cords on one or both sides. Generally speaking, laryngeal leukoplakia, laryngeal pachyderma, laryngeal papilloma, etc. are all considered to be the early lesions of laryngeal cancer, which means that some laryngeal leukoplakia can become cancerous.

Clinically, laryngeal leukoplakia is divided into two types. One is the acellular variant: the surface of the laryngeal mucosal epithelium is hyperkeratinized or parakeratinized, and there is no variation in cell morphology. This type is also called simple laryngeal leukoplakia and usually does not become cancerous. The other is the cell variation type: in addition to the hyperkeratosis or incomplete keratinization of the laryngeal mucosal epithelial surface, the morphology of local cells has also mutated, the cell nuclei have enlarged, and there is division.

This type of cancer has a higher rate of transformation. It can be seen from this that whether laryngeal leukoplakia will become cancerous is closely related to whether the local cells mutate and the degree of mutation, and the cure rate of acellular mutation type laryngeal leukoplakia is much higher than that of cellular mutation type. Generally speaking, most patients with simple laryngeal leukoplakia can be cured by quitting smoking and drinking, talking less, reducing adverse stimulation (spicy, hot or cold, etc.), cooperating with drug treatment, or undergoing leukoplakia peeling under supported laryngoscope.

Patients with cellular variant laryngeal leukoplakia should also receive active treatment, such as partial vocal cord resection and radiotherapy.

Is there a difference between laryngeal keratosis and laryngeal leukoplakia ?

No. Because of its grayish white appearance, clinicians call it leukoplakia. However, its pathology is excessive keratinization or incomplete keratinization, which is pathologically called keratosis, so laryngeal keratosis and laryngeal leukoplakia are the same disease. However, the Otolaryngology (National University Otolaryngology Unified Textbook) published by the People's Medical Publishing House lists them as two diseases and introduces them separately. However, the causes, symptoms, treatments, etc. of laryngeal keratosis and laryngeal leukoplakia introduced are basically the same, so it is inappropriate to list them as two diseases and introduce them separately.

Laryngeal leukoplakia can occur in any part of the larynx, but the vocal cord leukoplakia is the most common. Leukoplakia in other parts, such as the interarytenoid region, is extremely rare. Therefore, vocal cord leukoplakia is used clinically instead of laryngeal leukoplakia.