Médecine Nucléaire et Radiothérapie

A Local Relapse of Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of Larynx.“The Tortoise and the Hare”

Abstract

Tebra Mrad Sameh, Cherif Mohamed Aziz, Bouzid Nadia, Trimeche Mounir and Bouaouina Noureddine

The primitive Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma (SCNC) is a rare subtype of neuroendocrine laryngeal tumors which are the second most common laryngeal neoplasm after squamous cell carcinoma. We report a case of SCNC of the larynx occurring in a 35-year-old man, who smokes and drinks alcohol, who presented with dysphonia and dyspnea. On clinical examination there were painless, mobile cervical lymph nodes in addition to gynecomastia. On endoscopy, the lesion was exophytic and involved the whole of the right vocal cord. SCNC diagnosis was based on morphologic and immune-histochemical criteria. Treatment was non-surgical based on sequential chemoradiation therapy. An isolated local relapse was, unexpectedly, the first post therapeutic event, occurring at the end of the first year of follow up and managed by salvage surgery. Metastatic-free survival was 28 months.