Rhabdomyoma of the Larynx: A Case Report and Literature Review of a Rare Tumor in an Uncommon Location

Jihoon Lim; Jeremy Jueng; Charanjeet Singh; Jennifer P Rodney

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.07.016

Rhabdomyoma of the Larynx: A Case Report and Literature Review of a Rare Tumor in an Uncommon Location

J Voice. 2022 Aug 16:S0892-1997(22)00218-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.07.016. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jihoon Lim¹, Jeremy Jueng², Charanjeet Singh³, Jennifer P Rodney⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, Florida, USA. Electronic address: jihoonlim@knights.ucf.edu.
² University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, Florida, USA.
³ Center for Diagnostic Pathology, AdventHealth, Florida Hospital, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
⁴ Baylor, Scott and White The Voice Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.

PMID: 35985895
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.07.016

Abstract

Objectives: Laryngeal rhabdomyomas are extremely rare, benign striated muscle tumors that have been documented only ∼50 times in the literature. They can be subdivided into two types: fetal and adult types, with the adult type being more common. Common presenting symptoms include hoarseness or progressive dysphagia. Diagnosis is made via immunohistochemical and microscopic analysis. Management is typically surgical, most commonly endoscopic, or open resection.

Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted with PubMed's MEDLINE index using the following search string: "rhabdomyoma" AND ("larynx" OR "laryngeal" OR "head" OR "neck"). After exclusion criteria were applied, a total of 58 cases were included. The purpose of our literature review was to elucidate information about age/gender, location, size, chief complaint and duration, treatment, and recurrence from each of the 58 cases to identify trends that could guide future diagnosis and management.

Results: The average age at diagnosis of laryngeal rhabdomyoma was 52.6 years with a 2.22:1 male predominance. Hoarseness and/or dysphonia was the most common chief complaint (42/58 cases, 72%), followed by dysphagia (12/58 cases, 21%). Common treatment options included endoscopic excision (18/48 cases, 37.5%) or open surgical resection (10/48 cases, 21%). Tumor recurrence was reported in 5/40 cases (14%), most likely due to incomplete removal of the tumor.

Conclusions: Although laryngeal rhabdomyomas are rare, they should be considered in the differential diagnosis for patients with a submucosal laryngeal mass. Curative treatment is surgical via endoscopic resection. It is the preferred technique because of decreased morbidity compared to open resection. However, endoscopic resection was shown to have both higher rates of recurrence and shorter time to recurrence compared to open resection, necessitating frequent postoperative surveillance.

Keywords: Laryngeal neoplasms; Larynx; Rhabdomyoma.

Publication types

Case Reports