Laryngeal Amyloidosis Mimicking Glottic Cancer: A Case Report

A 47-year-old man was transferred from another clinic with a one year history of progressive dyspnea that had recently deteriorated. He was a heavy drinker (1 bottle of whisky/day) and smoker (1 pack/day). On the direct laryngoscopy, polypoid masses with smooth surfaces were found involving both the true and false vocal folds (Fig. 1A). We suspected the man was suffering from vocal cord carcinoma. The CT scan of neck showed diffuse thickening involving both the true and false vocal cords without involvement of the anterior commissure and paraglottic space (Fig. 1B). MRI of the neck was performed using a 1.5T imager, and this showed polypoid soft tissue thickening with hypointensity along the true and false vocal cords on the axial T1 (Fig. 1C) and T2-weighted images (Fig. 1D). After infusion of gadolinium contrast agent, this lesion showed homogenous enhancement (Fig. 1E). There was no evidence of destruction of the underlying thyroid cartilage or that the cervical lymph nodes were enlarged. Biopsy was performed at the true vocal cord lesion. The histopathologic results revealed submucosal amyloid deposition with positive congo red staining. The masses involving the both the false and true vocal cords J Korean Soc Radiol 2010;62:339-341