The pathology of head and neck tumors: papillomas of the upper aerodigestive tracts, Part 18

The human papillomavirus class of DNA viruses are more than circumstantially related to oral and airway papillomas. Whether they are fully oncogenic, in the malignant sense, without other agents is questionable. Recent advances in molecular virology and the use of genus-specific (common) antigen-antibody reactions have identified papillomavirus in laryngeal and oral papillomas. Laryngeal and oral papillomas could be precancerous lesions, but they show a low-risk and long-time interval leading to malignancy unless significant iatrogenic or host variables--such as radiotherapy or immuno-incompetence--are added. Two different papillomas in the larynx can be recognized; a nonkeratinizing, papillomavirus-related lesion, and a keratinizing, usually solitary papilloma, which may or may not be related to a virus genesis and may be equated with a keratosis or clinical leukoplakia.