Exudative lesions of Reinke's space. An anatomopathological correlation.

Few anatomopathological criteria for distinguishing vocal nodules, polyps or REINKE's edema have been established in previously published studies. In order to study this issue, 163 samples (from 119 patients) were examined by an experienced anatomopathologist, without her prior knowledge of the macroscopic or microscopic diagnosis. In all the cases, the presence of exudative phenomena in REINKE's space proved to be the determining factors, with four outstanding stages of evolution: edema, fibrosis, deposits of fibrin and development of vascular ectasia. Although each of the three entities were seen to have their specific characteristics, a large number of lesions showed histological features which were not very specific, and were dominated by edema. Furthermore, the coexistence of different anatomopathological features makes each group heterogeneous. We propose a model which groups all the exudative lesions of REINKE's space by insisting, on the one hand, on the evolution of the anomalies and, on the other hand, the etiological factors (vocal misuse, tobacco, alcohol acute, vocal trauma ...) which determine the onset of either one or other lesion.