Laryngocele

Laryngocele occurs more commonly than the literature indicates. Until recently, most were diagnosed clinically in the symptomatic patient. Although laryngocele is usually asymptomatic, greater numbers are being diagnosed because more patients suspected of head and neck cancer are undergoing sophisticated diagnostic radiographic procedures. Of 2,068 patients studied at M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute for suspected laryngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer, 87 (4.2%) had laryngoceles. Three types of laryngocele are recognized: internal, external, and combined. They may be congenital or acquired and occur at any age. The coexistence of carcinoma and laryngocele has been discussed often enough in the literature to suggest a direct relationship; however, this series yielded no substantive evidence to implicate laryngocele as a precursor of carcinoma. The radiographic procedures currently used which readily establish the presence of laryngoceles are lateral soft tissue radiography of the neck, anteroposterior tomography of the larynx, and contrast laryngography.
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