CHONDROSARCOMA OF THE LARYNX

Background: Manifestation of chondrosarcoma (CS) in the head and neck region is rare but it is the most frequently encountered non-epithelia l malignancy of the larynx. Since this tumor entity is frequently negl ected, its characteristics including differential diagnosis and therap y will be discussed in the following. Patients: From 1975 to 1995, fiv e cases with CS were diagnosed and treated in the Department of Otorhi nolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Kiel. Results: The medical history of this five patients (one woman, four men, average a ge: 71 years) varied from 9 months to 10 years. Three patients had a f ixation of the vocal cord; one patient had obviously reduced movement of the vocal cord. Two cases revealed a moderate and three cases a hig h differentiation in the histological examination. Initially one case was diagnosed as a chondroma. The origin of tumor growth was the crico id cartilage in four patients and the cartilage of the arytenoid in on e patient. Surgical treatment was either by partial or complete laryng ectomy in two cases each. One patient refused any therapy. Two patient s including the latter died of tumor related causes. Conclusions: Lary ngeal CS grow slowly. Diagnosis is frequently made late in the course of disease. Obtaining of tissue for histological examination and diagn ostic delimitation towards a chondroma can be difficult. Therapy depen ds on the degree of histological differentiation with radical excision of low or moderatly differentiated CS and function preserving surgery in case of high differentiation.