RESEARCH ARTICLE


A Rare Chondrosarcoma of the Larynx Presenting as Difficult Intubation: Report of a Case and Literature Review



Jaydev Sarma1, *, Srinivas M. Susarla2, William C. Faquin3, Phillip C. Song4
1 Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;
2 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA;
3 Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 4Staff Surgeon, Division of Laryngology, Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2011
Volume: 5
First Page: 37
Last Page: 41
Publisher ID: TOATJ-5-37
DOI: 10.2174/1874321801105010037

Article History:

Received Date: 28/05/2011
Revision Received Date: 24/07/2011
Acceptance Date: 26/07/2011
Electronic publication date: 25/11/2011
Collection year: 2011

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Creative Commons License
© 2011 Sarma et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Instructor in Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Tel: 6177247182; Fax: 6177264489; E-mail: jsarma@partners.org


Abstract

Chondrosarcomas of the larynx are rare tumors, representing less than 0.2% of all head and neck malignancies [1]. In this report, we present an unusual case of an undiagnosed chrondrosarcoma of the larynx presenting as difficult intubation in an otherwise asymptomatic patient. Difficult intubation in an otherwise asymptomatic patient has not been reported as an initial presentation of this tumor. Men are more commonly affected than women (3.6: 1), and the tumors typically present in the fifth or sixth decade of life. Patients may present with dyspnea, dysphagia, hoarseness of the voice, airway obstruction and some may have pain as a result of expansion of this tumor. The tumors almost always arise from hyaline cartilage, with the most common site of involvement the cricoid cartilage (75%), specifically the posterior lamina, with the thyroid cartilage and arytenoid cartilage less frequently involved. Though locally invasive, these tumors are characterized by a low tendency for distant metastasis and the overall prognosis following excision is excellent [2].

Keywords: Difficult intubation, chondrosarcoma, larynx.