Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis of the airway: the experience of an endoscopic unit

Introduction: recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (rpp) is a rare benign neoplasm caused by human papillomavirus (hpv). rpp is characterized by recurrent proliferation of the papillomata in the respiratory tract. objectives and methods: retrospective analysis of all adult patients with diagnosis of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis admitted to our endoscopic unit between 2000 and 2013 with histological proved papillomatosis. results: four patients were included (3 women) with an average age of 53 ± 19 years (27-72). before endoscopy unit admission,all the patients have been previously submitted to surgical removal of the papillomas with a median number of surgeries per patient of 6.5. these patients were submitted to therapeutic endoscopy and the most frequent endoscopic treatments were laser yag and local injection of cidofovir. all the patients treated with cidofovir presented complete remission of the disease. the median follow-up was 6 years: 2 presented malignant transformation to epidermoid carcinoma and 1 had severe dysplasia on the histological examination. we describe the four cases due to different forms of presentation. conclusion: papillomatosis of the airway is a rare condition predisposing to malignant transformation. rrp tends to recur and repeated surgeries are needed to remove papillomatas. endoscopic treatment is important for the removal of the papillomas that are not accessible via laryngoscopy (yag laser,cryotherapy,etc.) and for resistant moderate/severe cases of rpp because it allows intralesional administration of adjuvant therapy like cidofovir. © 2013 sociedade portuguesa de pneumologia.