Fine-needle aspiration of dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma of the larynx

✍ Scribed by William C. Faquin; Ben Z. Pilch; Suzanne B. Keel; Teri L. Cooper

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 156 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8755-1039
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0339(200005)22:5<288::aid-dc6>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

We present a case of dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma of the larynx in which the dedifferentiated component was initially diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration (FNA). The patient was a 74-yr-old man who presented with difficulty breathing and an anterior neck mass. A CT scan demonstrated a 4.5-cm cartilaginous lesion involving the left thyroid cartilage, with an anterior soft-tissue component. Nine years prior, the patient had an incomplete resection of a low-grade chondrosarcoma at the same site. FNA was performed on the current lesion, demonstrating a high-grade spindle-cell sarcoma with a storiform pattern. The cytomorphology together with immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy were diagnostic of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH), and synthesis of the clinical, radiographic, and cytomorphologic features resulted in a diagnosis of dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma. The cytologic diagnosis was histologically confirmed by laryngectomy. Although rare, dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of high-grade sarcomas of bone and cartilage assessed by FNA.