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Background: Laryngeal papilloma is the most common benign laryngeal neoplasm in children and the second most common cause of hoarseness among pediatric patients and has bimodal age distribution (Sherif and Nunez, 2008). Although LP is a rare disease and can be conventionally managed through surgical excision as well as adjuvant therapy yet LP has high tendency to recur raising its prevalence in the community. Its airway involvement warrants dangerous complications requiring emergency tracheostomy, especially if clinical and pathogenesis courses are poorly understood and misdiagnosis is common (lawkson et all 1996).
Objective: To determine the prevalence, clinical features, clinical triad of risk factors and recurrence of laryngeal papillomatosis among patients attending ENT department at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center from 2005 to 2015.
Methodology: This was a 10year Descriptive hospital based Cross – Sectional study conducted based on patients’ medical record at KCMC hospital from January 2005 to December 2015 at the E.N.T department. Information on gender, age, number of surgeries, maternal profile and management was recorded into data collection sheets, entered and analyzed through SPSS version 20, summarized and presented into tables and charts.
Results: 51 patients were identified over the 10years study period corresponding to a prevalence of 0.09%. 26 were males and 25 females with an M: F ratio 1.01:1, and ages ranging from 1 to 67 years. The median age of onset was 6years. Children less than 5years accounted for 19(37.3%) and 58.8% had repeated surgeries. Clinical presentation ranged from hoarseness in 43(84.3%) patients, DIB 35(68.3%), decrease/loss of voice 23(45.1%), cough 9(17.6), inspiratory stridor 8(15.7%), snoring 4(7.8%), mouth breathing 2(3.9%), FB sensation 1(2%) and weight loss 3(5.9%) and 96.1% showed complete or partial presence of the clinical triad of risk factors.
Conclusion: Laryngeal papillomatosis is a rare disease that carries severe morbidity as its clinical course is characterized by a highly recurring nature. It is primarily a paediatric disease and generally affects more males than females; its clinical features highly resembles other airway obstructive diseases and therefore a careful thorough clinical evaluation is required in order correctly diagnose LP. Public health education is thus crucial in identification of the early presenting signs and symptoms suspicious to Laryngeal papillomatosis |
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