Upper aerodigestive tract liposarcoma: Report on four cases and literaturereview

Objective: To report on the clinical behavior, histopathology, treatment, a nd prognosis of laryngeal, hypopharyngeal, and cervical esophageal liposarc omas, Study Design: Retrospective reviews of pathology files and hospital r ecords at a tertiary care hospital and a retrospective search of the Englis h-language literature. Methods: Cases of upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) l iposarcoma with adequate histopathologic documentation and clinical informa tion were included for review. Results: Four cases of UADT liposarcomas wer e identified, The literature review revealed 26 cases of laryngeal liposarc omas, 7 cases of hypopharyngeal liposarcomas, and 6 cases of esophageal lip osarcomas: the mean age at presentation was 55.8 years, the male:female rat io was 5:1, and 60% of the patients presented with dysphagia, Eighty-six pe rcent of tumors had low-grade histologic findings. The recurrence rate afte r primary resection was 50%, Recurrence correlated with surgical procedure rather than with histologic subtype; 94.7% of recurrences happened after si mple excision, Distant metastases occurred in three patients; two of them d ied of the disease. Conclusions: The literature supports that UADT liposarc omas are rare and usually of low-grade histologic type. The rate of metasta tic disease and tumor-related mortality is low. However, high recurrence ra tes have been noted, particularly when less radical surgery is employed.