Primary laryngeal lymphoma: a diagnostic challenge

<p class="abstract">Lymphomas of head and neck constitute 5-15% of malignancies in this region. However, its primary occurrence at the larynx is exceedingly rare due to the paucity of lymphoid tissue. Here, we reported a case of a 41 year old male who presented with a 1 month history of hoarseness and odynophagia. The examination revealed right vocal cord palsy and an ipsilateral subglottic exudate, that was misdiagnosed as infectious disease. The lesion quickly progressed to airway obstruction, requiring a tracheotomy. Multiple biopsies under general anesthesia were needed before reaching the final diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Epstein-Barr positive. Selected treatment modality included 3 cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy in moderate dose with complete remission after 2 years of follow up. The tracheotomy was removed, however, the patient did not recover vocal quality. This case highlighted the heterogeneous presentation of extra-nodal head and neck lymphomas and emphasized the need for suspicion of neoplasm when an infection doesn’t respond to maximal medical therapy.</p>

Carcinoma Showing Thymus-like Differentiation (CASTLE) with Synchronous Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Case Report and Review

Carcinoma showing thymus-like differentiation (CASTLE) is a rare malignant tumor that accounts for 0.1%–0.15% of all thyroid cancers. More than half of the patients have tumor extension to adjacent organs, including the recurrent laryngeal nerve, trachea, and esophagus. The diagnosis of CASTLE is based on histology and immunohistochemistry. A 58-year-old female patient complained of hoarseness for one and half years. Right side vocal cord palsy was diagnosed by fiberscopy. Thyroid sonography revealed right thyroid tumors, which were reported to be papillary thyroid carcinoma through FNAC. Total thyroidectomy with central lymph node dissection was performed. Pathologist found 2 isolated malignancy tumors. One patient in the right thyroid lobe had papillary thyroid carcinoma features. The other extrathyroid tumor seemed to be separated from the first tumor and invaded the thyroid capsule. After multiple immunohistochemical studies, PTC synchronous CASTLE was the final diagnosis. Coexisting PTC and CASTLE is very rare. This is the first report to describe a case showing PTC at first, while subsequent pathologic examination revealed the presence of CASTLE in addition to PTC. Since the prognosis of CASTLE is favorable, the treatment is different from other aggressive thyroid cancers, such as poorly differentiated or anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

Radiofrequency Ablation a Safe and Effective Treatment for Pediatric Benign Nodular Thyroid Goiter

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for benign thyroid nodules in pediatric patients.Materials and Methods: Twelve pediatric patients (11 female, 1 male; mean age 15.54 ± 2.8 years, range 10–19 years) with benign thyroid nodules (mean longest diameter 4.1 ± 1.4 cm, range 1.5–5.9 cm) treated by RFA from 2017 to 2020 were evaluated. The inclusion criteria for RFA therapy were (i) age &lt; 20 years; (ii) benign cytological confirmation by 2 separate ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) or core needle biopsies; (iii) pressure symptoms or cosmetic problems caused by thyroid nodules; (iv) absence of any sonographic suspicious feature; and (v) follow-up for &gt;6 months. Under local anesthesia, RFA was performed with the use of an RF generator and an 18-gauge internally cooled electrode. Volume changes in nodules on follow-up ultrasonography (US), changes in symptomatic and cosmetic scores, and complications arising during or after RFA were evaluated.Results: Mean follow-up period was 24.9 ± 13.9 months (range 6–43 months). At the last follow-up visits, volume of the nodule had decreased significantly (15.34 ± 11.52 mL vs. 4.07 ± 4.99 mL; P &lt; 0.05), whereas volume reduction rate was 74.31% ± 19.59%. Both cosmetic and compressive symptoms were also significantly improved (2.91 ± 0.79 vs. 0.92 ± 0.67 and 1.5 ± 1.93 vs. 0.17 ± 0.39; P &lt; 0.05). The mean number of ablation sessions was 1.4 ± 0.6 (range 1–3 sessions), and one of the patients suffered from transient vocal cord palsy which was spontaneously resolved 53 days later.Conclusions: RFA is a safe and effective treatment for benign thyroid nodules in pediatric patients, and can thus serve as an alternative treatment for thyroidectomy.

Presence of bilateral vocal cord palsy with stridor: A case study on an unusual complication of scrub typhus

Several studies have reported on developing neurological complications following scrub typhus, however vocal cord palsy (VCP) symptoms in this case have never been reported. This work reports on a case where a twelve-year-old male child has been presented to the emergency department with stridor due to bilateral vocal cord palsy as a complication of post-scrub typhus infection.

Role of Laryngeal Ultrasonography in screening for laryngeal diseases in symptomatic patients

Background Laryngoscopy is widely considered the most appropriate tool for evaluating the larynx, however, it is invasive and not all patients can tolerate it. Although laryngeal ultrasound has been proposed as a promising noninvasive technique that can play an important role in laryngeal imaging, there is lack of consensus regarding its role. Objective The aim of this study is to assess laryngeal ultrasound sensitivity compared to indirect laryngoscopy in screening for laryngeal diseases in symptomatic patients. Patients and methods 30 undiagnosed symptomatic patients underwent laryngeal ultrasound and indirect laryngoscopy. Their results were compared. Results Technical success rate of laryngeal ultrasound was (83%). It showed overall sensitivity of (78.9%) in detecting organic laryngeal diseases with high sensitivity in detecting laryngeal masses, reinke’s edema, vocal cord cysts and polyps (100%), vocal cord palsy (83.3%), intermediate sensitivity for vocal cord nodules (66.7%), and poor sensitivity for laryngitis and non organic voice disorders (0%). Conclusion Laryngeal ultrasound is a useful non invasive imaging tool that can be used with acceptable sensitivity in detecting organic laryngeal diseases excluding laryngitis, hindered mainly by complete thyroid cartilage calcification in older males. Consequently we recommend its use as complementary to clinical examination and mirror laryngoscopy, or as an alternative to indirect laryngoscopy when required and in routine neck ultrasound exams when appropriate.

Recurrent laryngeal nerve schwannoma: same setting of resection and injection laryngoplasty

A 33-year-old woman was diagnosed with right recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) schwannoma. She presented with a long history of hoarseness, and only recently developed dysphagia. On physical examination, a mass was observed over the right cervical level IV. Endoscopic examination of the larynx showed that she had right unilateral vocal cord palsy. She successfully underwent transcervical resection of the tumour followed by injection laryngoplasty. This study discusses the presentation of the tumour, radiological findings, our working diagnosis and treatment options of RLN schwannoma.