Multicentric study: statistical correlation between clinical data and instrumental findings in laryngo-pharyngeal reflux: proposal for a new ENT classification of reflux.

Clinical pictures of laryngopharyngeal reflux, described in the literature, often differ considerably and are described with wide severity. Some classifications employ a total score i.e., addition of the assigned scores to single aspects of video-laryngoscopy. These classifications have the disadvantage of being complex, not reproducible and, in part, subjective. In this study, an original video-laryngoscopic classification is proposed, based on a topographic criterion with distinction of anterior, from posterior and lateral, lesions and an anatomo-pathological criterion that assigns a marked severity to the granulomatous and erosive lesions, in comparison with the erythematous and oedematous lesions. Four classes are proposed or grades of patients (A, B, C, D). The study was multicentric on 178 patients. Results were considered estimating the clinical parameters and the symptoms, correlating them at the stages of the classification proposed. The data obtained indicate that our classification presents an indicative distribution as far as concerns severity and it seems acceptable for efficacy and simplicity: no significant correlation emerged between the single manifestations and the severity of the objective picture; in the majority of cases, the most constant symptomatological triad was globus, cough and dysphonia.