Respiratory papillomas

Papillomas are known to occur in the lower respiratory tract. They are however, rare compared to their occurrence in the upper respiratory tract. These are generally exophytic tumors in the more proximal upper airways however cases with more distal location with an inverted growth pattern have also been described in the literature. These can be solitary or multiple and multifocality associated with multiple papillomas in the upper respiratory/aerodigestive tract. The four major types of respiratory papillomas are (1) Recurrent respiratory papillomas, (2) solitary squamous papillomas, (3) solitary glandular papillomas, (4) mixed papillomas. We review the incidence, etiopathology, diagnosis, and possible treatment modalities and algorithms for these respiratory papillomas.