Background: Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a wart-like lesion mainly affecting the larynx, caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes 6 and 11. The disease affects both children and adults, and there is no cure. Surgery is the current symptom-relieving treatment; however, HPV vaccination is used as an adjuvant treatment.
Aims and Objectives: The aims were to study effects of HPV vaccination in RRP cases and to compare juvenile-onset to adult-onset disease and high treatment frequency (TF) to low TF cases.
Material and Methods: Medical records of RRP patients were studied from May 2006 to January 2023. Eighty-five RRP cases, tested for HPV genotypes with PapilloCheck®, were included. Vaccination- onset- and treatment analysis were performed.
Results: Twelve percent of the cases were vaccinated. The number of surgeries decreased from 2.0 to 0.8/year after HPV vaccination. Most cases had an adult-onset and less than one treatment per year. Juvenile-onset cases had a higher vaccination treatment ratio compared to adult-onset.
Conclusions: HPV vaccination was associated with a lower number of treatments per year, supporting the use of vaccination as an adjuvant treatment.
Significance: Vaccination as adjuvant treatment to surgery may lead to increased quality of life for RRP patients and saved healthcare resources.