Chondrosarcoma of the larynx is extremely rare in young people. Total laryngectomy to treat this tumor in young patients would have a markedly deleterious effect on the long-term quality of life of the patients. Therefore, it would be worthwhile attempting larynx-preserving surgery in such patients. Herein, we report a case of chondrosarcoma arising from the cricoid cartilage in a young patient.
A 32-year-old man presented with the complains of hoarseness of the voice and breathlessness. Biopsy of the lesion performed under computed-tomographic guidance revealed a low-grade chondrosarcoma arising from the right side of the cricoid cartilage. We resected the tumor while preserving the larynx. While we had to resect a part of the laryngeal structure, we reconstructed the lost section with a costal cartilage graft. At present, six months after the surgery, the patient shows no evidence of recurrence or metastases.
If a patient with a laryngeal tumor has a good performance status, the malignancy grade of the tumor is not high, and less than half the larynx needs to be resected, it may be possible to achieve complete tumor resection while preserving the laryngeal function.
