Thyroid Cartilage Chondrosarcoma Review: Management and Prognosis of a Rare Tumor

Objective: This article is a critical review of the literature concerning thyroid cartilage chondrosarcoma and is particularly focused on the management and prognosis of this rare entity. Study Design: A review of all the cases of thyroid cartilage chondrosarcoma reported in the literature up to January 2013. Methods: The search was carried out through the introduction of the MeSH terms: Chondrosarcoma, Laryngeal Cartilages, Thyroid Cartilage, Therapeutics. All the studies related to thyroid cartilage chondrosarcoma were selected together with a newly presented case. Results: A total of 47 cases have been described in the literature, and 35 of these include sufficient data for statistical analysis. The age of patients ranged from 40 to 77 years, with a male predilection (88.6%). The main symptoms were neck mass and hoarseness. Grade I and II tumors were most frequent. A total of 13 cases described an extension of the tumor beyond the thyroid cartilage. The most common treatment was partial laryngectomy (50%). All patients who died were male, with grade II or II-III tumor or associated sarcoma, had metastases and received radiotherapy in addition to total laryngectomy. Conclusion: Patient age and tumor size does not influence the prognosis. Tumor grade I and I-II have good prognoses, whereas the prognosis is unpredictable in tumors between grade II and III. Patients with associated sarcoma, or metastasis, have a worse prognosis. Partial laryngectomy is a good therapeutic option, although total laryngectomy is sometimes required in order to ensure complete resection.