Laryngeal Cancer In Children And Adolescents

Squamous cell carcinoma of larynx in an 8-year-old child: successful management with chemo-radiation

Incidence of laryngeal squamous cell cancer (SCC) in childhood is rare, more so in children below 10 years of age. Due to the rarity of the disease and nonspecific symptoms diagnosis often gets delayed. Treatment is challenging and demands expert multi-modality care. We describe the clinico-pathologic findings and management of laryngeal cancer with chemo-radiation in an 8-year-old male. After 18 months of completion of treatment the child is in complete remission clinically and radiologically. This report aims at increasing awareness of head and neck SCC in paediatric population and also underscores the importance of multi-modality care in managing such cases.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck in an adult

OBJECTIVE

This report describes an exceedingly rare case of adult embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma arising in the head and neck, which was initially diagnosed as a primary unknown cancer.

METHOD

The patient underwent a radical neck dissection with the total excision of the tumor, which was diagnosed as embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

RESULT

The patient received intensive adjuvant chemotherapy, and is still alive with no signs of recurrence or metastasis.

CONCLUSION

This case report demonstrates not only the rarity of this neoplasm but the importance of the differential diagnosis for planning the therapeutic strategy.

Laryngeal alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma involving the true vocal fold in an adult: Case report

Rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx is extremely rare in adults, as only 17 well-documented cases have been previously reported in the English-language literature. Of these, only 2 cases (both male) involved the alveolar subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma, and neither involved the true vocal folds. We report a case of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the true vocal fold in 54-year-old woman. She was successfully treated with conservative surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Management of head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma has evolved from radical surgery to less morbid procedures supplemented with radiation and chemotherapy. However, because this tumor is so rare in the adult population, no adult-specific treatment regimen has emerged. Nevertheless, the success of treatment in the pediatric population supports its use in adults.

Malignant B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the larynx in children with Wiskott Aldrich syndrome

A 15 years old male with a primary diagnosis of Wiskott Aldrich syndrome presented a laryngeal B cell lymphoma associated with Epstein-Barr virus. A chemotherapy and a radiotherapy were started in association with an endoscopic debulking of the tumor. The child died of respiratory failure secondary to a lung infection. The incidence of NHL (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) of laryngeal origin in infants is extremely low and to our knowledge it has never been found in Wiskott Aldrich syndrome.

Laryngo-pharyngeal carcinoma in childhood

Laryngo-pharyngeal carcinoma is rare in children. We present two cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the laryngopharynx in children less than 15 years of age. Both patients presented with a prolonged history of symptoms and extensive disease at diagnosis. Early visualisation the vocal cords with flexible larygnoscopy is important in children presenting with symptoms suggestive of laryngeal pathology. Long-term complications of definitive local therapy for laryngopharyngeal carcinoma are important in young children. Evidence from studies in adult patients suggests that adjuvant chemotherapy may play a role in laryngeal preservation in a select group of patients.

Malignancy of the Larynx in a Child

Squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx in children is rare. The management of laryngeal malignancy is more difficult in children than adults for several reasons: the aggressive nature of a tumor that is often diagnosed late in children; the delicacy of pediatric anatomic structures; intraoperative blood loss; long-term post-treatment complications; and psychological factors particular to children. A tracheostomized 13-year-old boy came to us with a 4-month history of hoarseness, breathing difficulty, and swelling in the neck. A detailed examination revealed that a transglottic tumor had infiltrated the thyroid and cricoid cartilage, the upper two tracheal rings, and the thyroid gland. Such an infiltration has not been previously reported. The lesion proved to be a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. We performed a wide-field total laryngectomy, which was followed by radiotherapy. Unfortunately, the child survived only 3 years postoperatively.

Second Malignant Neoplasms in Patients Under 40 Years of Age With Laryngeal Cancer

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

To determine the incidence of second malignant neoplasms (SMN) in patients under 40 years of age with invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the larynx.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective.

METHODS

Using a National Cancer Institute tumor registry database encompassing 1973-1996, the incidence of SMN in patients under 40 years of age with laryngeal cancer was determined and compared with that of the registry's older, more traditional laryngeal cancer population. Median follow-up was 136 months.

RESULTS

Among the 364 patients under the age of 40 years with laryngeal cancer, 30 (8.2%) had developed a secondary malignancy to date. In comparison, 4876 (21.4%) of 22,786 patients 40 years or older with laryngeal cancer were affected by an SMN. Kaplan-Meier analysis of the younger cohort projected 3.0%, 6.8%, and 10.7% relative risk of developing a SMN at any site over 5-, 10-, and 15-year periods, respectively, after index tumor diagnosis. Similar results for the older cohort were 14.2%, 28.1%, and 39.4% at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively. Further Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated at least a fourfold increased risk for the development of secondary upper aerodigestive tract malignancies among older compared with younger patients.

CONCLUSION

Patients under 40 years of age with invasive SCC of the larynx are significantly less likely to develop a second malignancy than their older counterparts.

Embryonal "Botryoid" rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx: a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of two cases

Two cases of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx are reported. The tumors occurred in a 16-year-old boy and in a 66-year-old man. They manifested clinically with nonspecific symptoms, including voice hoarseness and sense of throat fullness. Treatment consisted of total and partial laryngectomy, respectively. Grossly, both lesions had an exophytic growth pattern and microscopically featured a proliferation of small round to oval cells. Cell cytoplasms were occasionally stainable and fibrillary. Quite often, tumor cellularity was denser beneath the covering mucosa, recalling a "cambium layer" pattern. Tumor cells immunoreacted for desmin, actins, myoglobin, and sarcomeric actin; no immunostaining was noted for epithelial markers. No further antitumoral treatment was administered after surgery. There has been no recurrence of tumor at 2 and 10 years, respectively. Based on our series and the available literature, it seems that rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx pursues a less-aggressive course than that seen in the homonimic juvenile or adult soft tissue lesion. Surgery alone appears to be a valid treatment option, especially when a polypoid, or "botryoid" gross pattern, coupled with the embryonal small cell histotype is encountered. In light of these findings, it is suggested that botryoid rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx may deserve a specific consideration among the various laryngeal mesenchymal malignancies.

Laryngeal malignant neoplasms in children and adolescents

An exhaustive literature review of the last two decades discloses 47 laryngeal malignant neoplasms in children and adolescents. The most frequent malignant neoplasm is the embryonal variant of rhabdomyosarcoma. The timely diagnosis of a laryngeal neoplasm depends on maintaining a high index of suspicion in a patient with progressive airway obstruction, dysphagia or dysphonia, and conducting an efficient work-up-including magnetic resonance imaging and direct laryngoscopy under general anesthesia in association with bronchoscopy-in order to define the extent of the lesion, rule out multiple lesions, establish and maintain an airway, and perform a biopsy of the tumor. The authors observed that several risk factors, such as previous radiation therapy for juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis, intrauterine exposure to ionizing radiation, chemical carcinogens, smoking or tobacco exposure were lacking in those patients with a detailed clinical history. Probably, cancer of the larynx in these unusual patients is the final result of an interaction of immunological and genetic factors. The choice of therapy depends on several factors, including the clinical stage at presentation, histological type and potential radio-chemosensitivity of the tumor.