Benign cartilaginous tumors of the larynx

Laryngeal chondroma presenting as an external neck mass

“…In a study reported by Cocke [5], the most common complaint was hoarseness. Other less frequently reported complaints are dyspnea, dysphagia and stridor.…”

Chondroma of the larynx

“…More commonly, the early symptom is a change in voice, since the tumor invades the larynx but remains submucosal. In the series reported by Van de Catsijne [3] and Cocke [4], each of over 100 cases of chondromatous tumors of the larynx, the most frequently observed symptom was a change in voice observed in 57% and 79%, respectively. Dyspnea followed in 56% and 52%, dysphagia in 21 Yo and 22%, a feeling of fullness in 12% and 25%, cough in 10% and 11%, and stridor in 9% and 3%.…”

“…Recurrent attacks of asthma have also been described, one with a fatal outcome [ 2 ] . Of the laryngeal cartilages, the cricoid is the most frequent site of chondroma (50-70%), followed by thyroid cartilage (17-33%), arythenoids (3-8%), and the epiglottis ( 3 4 % ) [4,5]. There is a male predominance (4: 1).…”

“…Histologic differentiation of the laryngeal cartilagineous tumors chondroma and chondrosarcoma follows the criteria of Lichtenstein and Jaffe [6], but their biologic behavior may be difficult to predict because of an equivocal distinction between benign and malignant cartilaginous tumors [3,4,7]. Furthermore, a single tumor may show islands of atypical cells next to benign-appearing cells.…”

“…Because a frozen section from one region of the tumor is benign does not mean that the entire tumor is benign. There is some controversy concerning the optimal extent of resection: some authors recommend conservative resections because local recurrences are not considered catastrophic [8,9] and distant metastases are extremely unlikely even for chondrosarcomas, while others [1,3,4,10] recommend resection with a margin of healthy tissue ranging from one millimeter to a centimeter.…”