Carcinoma cuniculatum (CC) is a rare clinicopathologic variant of squamous cell carcinoma. Histologically, it is characterized by invasive growth of bland, acanthotic, and keratinizing squamous epithelium that forms multiple rabbit burrow-like, keratin-filled crypts and sinuses. We present a 51-year-old male smoker with CC of the left vocal cord. The tumor was staged T1a and the patient was disease-free 12 months after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the fourth case of CC of the larynx reported in the English literature and the first, due to its early diagnosis, where radical surgery was not performed. We highlight the necessity for awareness of this entity and coordination between otolaryngologists, radiologists, and pathologists for early diagnosis and organ-sparing surgical treatment.
Keywords: Carcinoma cuniculatum; Histological diagnosis; Larynx; Upper aero-digestive tract; Verrucous carcinoma; Vocal cords; Well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.