Goblet cells in the laryngeal mucosa in cancer of the larynx

From 70 patients with laryngeal cancer, pieces of mucosa were taken from the subglottis, the entrance to the sinus of Morgagni, and from the ventricular fold. There were 35 taken at the time of diagnosis and the other 35 were taken after radiotherapy. By means of an elective staining method and a whole mount technique, morphological and quantitative studies of the goblet cells were performed. The findings were compared with corresponding investigations of goblet cells in normal larynges. The significantly lower density in the subglottis than in the sinus of Morgagni and ventricular fold observed in normal larynges was not found in the two groups of cancer patients. Instead, there was a tendency to an equalization of the goblet cell density in all 3 laryngeal regions. In the irradiated group the goblet cell density was lower, in all 3 regions, than in the nonirradiated cancer group and in normal larynges. In the close vicinity of the cancer the goblet cell density was reduced, possibly because the cancer process had initiated metaplasia to an epithelium which was poor in goblet cells. Between the two cancer groups and normal larynges there were no morphological differences in the goblet cells.