Chemodectoma of the larynx

Summary The present case report is concerned with a clinico-pathological study, including ultrastructural investigation, of a rare and uncommon laryngeal tumour, a chemodectoma, in a 62 year old patient. There have been 23 cases of laryngeal chemodectomas reported in the literature, and only three of them, including our own report, were investigated by electron microscopy. The tumours arise from the superior and inferior laryngeal nonchromaffin paraganglia or possibly from Kultschitzky-cells of the normal bronchial mucosa.Ultrastructurally they have all the characteristics of apudomas whose parent cells (the APUD-cells), usually show endocrine function and probably have their origin in the neural crest.The tumours show an aggressive type of behaviour, despite usually benign histological features when compared to chemodectomas at other sites in the head and neck region. Surgery is thus the therapy of choice.