Local Amyloid Deposits of the Larynx: Electron Microscopic Studies of Three Cases

Clinical implications of laryngeal amyloidosis

“…There is no clinical evidence in favour of this hypothesis because the amyloid deposits appear with striking frequency in the supraglottic area. According to Eliachar and Lichtig (1970), some predisposing connection between the disease and vocal abuse or excessive smoking has never been demonstrated. However, two patients described here are heavy smokers and in one patient vocal abuse might have been present.…”

“…Amyloid deposits in cases of plasmacytoma may occur in the larynx (Fernandez etal., 1982) but in the upper respiratory tract they are mainly situated in the nose and nasopharynx (Michaels and Hyams, 1979). Concomitant occurrence of amyloid elsewhere in the body is very unlikely (Eliachar and Lichtig, 1970;Barnes and Zafar, 1977;Hellquist etal., 1979;Finn and Farmer, 1982). Nevertheless this situation has to be excluded completely in each individual case by means of extensive investigations (see below).…”

Chronic non-granulomatous supraglottitis: a rare and difficult disease

“…The causes are myriad, and include: reflux, 1 environmental pollutants, 2,3 granulomatous disorders, 5 syphilis, 5,6 fungal infections, 7,8 viral infections, 9 amyloidosis, 10,11 Wegener's granulomatosis, 12 chronic relapsing polychondritis, 13 sarcoidosis, 14 systemic lupus erythematosus 15 and hereditary angioedema. The causes are myriad, and include: reflux, 1 environmental pollutants, 2,3 granulomatous disorders, 5 syphilis, 5,6 fungal infections, 7,8 viral infections, 9 amyloidosis, 10,11 Wegener's granulomatosis, 12 chronic relapsing polychondritis, 13 sarcoidosis, 14 systemic lupus erythematosus 15 and hereditary angioedema.…”

“…Inflammatory disease of the supraglottic larynx is rare. The causes are myriad, and include: reflux, 1 environmental pollutants, 2 , 3 granulomatous disorders, 5 syphilis, 5 , 6 fungal infections, 7 , 8 viral infections, 9 amyloidosis, 10 , 11 Wegener's granulomatosis, 12 chronic relapsing polychondritis, 13 sarcoidosis, 14 systemic lupus erythematosus 15 and hereditary angioedema 16 18 Chronic non-granulomatous epiglottitis is an extremely rare entity with only a few reports in the literature 19…”