A rare case of supraglottic laryngeal paraganglioma is presented. There have been only twenty-three other reported cases of the tumor recorded in the English, German and French literature. The patient was a 56-year-old woman with a history of hoarseness and stridor for about three years, and with a pink submucosal cherry-sized mass involving the aryepiglottic fold to the false cord on the left side. Treatment was an extralaryngeal excision after a preliminary treacheostomy. Blood loss was estimated at 260ml.
The published cases of laryngeal paraganglioma as well as the present case indicate that in all but one of these cases, laryngeal paraganglioma originated superiorly in the larynx; that involvement of the ipsilateral aryepiglottic fold is common; that the incidence of the tumor is equal in the sexes; and that the average age of patients at the time of diagnosis is 47 years. Surgical resection is the preferred treatment and has been possible in 22 cases. The incidence of malignant behavior with metastasis in reported cases of laryngeal paraganglioma is 17%, which commonly have a characteristic symptom of severe spasmodic laryngeal pain which may be induced by swallowing.
