XXII. Chondroma of the Larynx: Case Report

Case I.-Patient (about 60) as a youth had a fine singing voice. At 2S this quality in the voice was gradually lost and a roughness was noticed which, as years went on, was more pronounced when patient was physically exhausted or nervous. The first medical examination was made in January, 1933, when a smooth tumor was visible above the left vocal cord and which did not obscure the cord. A mass about the size of a small plum was palpable in the left side of the neck in the region of the thyroid cartilage; an X-ray showed a calcified enlargement of the left thyroid and cricoid cartilages. This has not changed in the year, and the function of the cords has remained as on first examination. Case 2.-Patient has been under treatment for one year for ulcerative tumors of the larynx. There is a history of heavy drinking, negative Wassermann and negative T. B. examination. A biopsy specimen was reported as inflammatory tissue. I saw the case in November, 1933, when examination showed a loss of the left halfof the rim of epiglottis. The surface was smooth as though there had been' an ulceration which had healed in such a way as to leave the cartilage.·~xposed. There was a tumor mass on the right side of the larynx which exhibited an ulcerative surface and obscured the vocal cord on that side. There was a large ulceration in the left pyriform fossa and it small isolated growth on the side of the pharyngeal wall. One lymph gland on the left side was enlarged but not tender. Blood Wassermann was again negative; blood count was normal and T. B. examination negative. The patient was kept on mixed treatment for two months with little effect on the lesions. A biopsy showed no evidence of carcinoma. T. B. or lues and was diagnosed as chondroma. The patient died in an insane asylum from a thrombosis of the cerebral vessels. No autopsy was permitted.