on about 250 cases reported to date. The standard therapy is conservative surgery.
Hildegard Pape, M.D.Radiotherapy has universally been regarded as ineffective in the treatment of this Gerd Schmitt, M.D.disease.
METHODS.A patient with a laryngeal chondrosarcoma was observed for 11 years Department of Radiation Oncology, Heinrichafter radical radiotherapy. The literature on laryngeal chondrosarcoma was critiHeine-University Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf, Germany.cally reviewed, with emphasis placed on radiotherapy.
RESULTS.The review of the literature revealed that experience with radiotherapy of laryngeal chondrosarcoma has been lacking, with fewer than 10 cases with short follow-up documented up to now. Meanwhile, increasing evidence of the efficacy of radiotherapy in the treatment of skeletal chondrosarcoma has emerged. The authors report the first case of chondrosarcoma of the larynx in which radical radiotherapy resulted in a long term remission of more than 10 years.CONCLUSIONS. Radiotherapy should be considered when radical surgery is not feasible without severe mutilation. It should also be considered for the treatment of residual disease. Laryngectomy should be restricted to salvage treatment when radiotherapy fails. In this study, radiotherapy appeared to be an effective modality in the treatment of low grade laryngeal chondrosarcoma, and these results contrast with the current widespread disapproval of this treatment. A mong neoplasms of the larynx, less than 1% are nonepithelial tumors, with chondrosarcoma being most common. 1 Approximately 250 laryngeal chondrosarcomas have been documented to date. Surgery is the mainstay of therapy, and limited experience with external radiation therapy (XRT) has been gained.
2,3
CASE REPORTA male patient age 66 years was admitted to the hospital with severe choking attacks that required emergency tracheotomy. The patient's history revealed episodes of progressive dyspnea over the last 3The authors thank Prof. James Kilbury for pamonths. Direct laryngoscopy showed a large, firm subglottic nodule tected with Feulgen staining corroborated the diagnosis of malignancy. A postoperative computed tomography (CT) scan (Fig.