Rhabdomyosarcoma of the Larynx: Report of a Case

Abstract

SARCOMAS of the larynx are extremely unusual neoplasms. Statistics from large series of patients with laryngeal cancer indicate their incidence is less than 1%.¹ Rhabdomyosarcoma must certainly rank close to, if not the least common of the laryngeal sarcomas. This appears to be true in spite of (1) the appreciation that rhabdomyosarcoma is the malignant neoplasm most often observed in the head and neck of children and adolescents,² and (2) earlier confusion in tumor nomenclature, wherein benign and malignant lesions, presumably of muscle origin, were all designated as "rhabdomyomata." The present authors have been able to accept only five documented cases of rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx from the literature (1949 through 1968). The apparent rarity of this neoplasm in the larynx and its sometimes confusion with other laryngeal tumors has prompted this report. Report of a Case A 3-year-old white boy was admitted to the University of Michigan