Human papilloma virus vaccination treatment for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

Abstract

A clinical manifestation of human papillomavirus (HPV) is recurrent respiratory pa- pillomatosis (RRP), characterized by the proliferation of recurrent verrucous epithelial lesions in the respiratory mucosa, which may progress to airway obstruction or malig- nant transformation. First-line treatment is surgery, but given its high recurrence the use of adjuvant therapy, such as the quadrivalent vaccine, has gained importance. However, there is controversy regarding its effectiveness. To analyze the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine as an adjuvant treatment for RRP a review of the literature on the effectiveness of HPV tetravalent vaccine for RRP was performed by searching databases such as Pub- med, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, Google Scholar and Epistemonikos. We selected the studies that answered the question and analyzed the data from all of which suppor- ted the vaccine as treatment. None were randomized controlled trials. We conclude, with low certainty of evidence, that the vaccine is possibly effective for RRP in decreasing the number of recurrences, increasing the intersurgical interval, achieving complete or partial remission of disease and significantly increasing anti-HPV antibodies.