Purulent chondritis of the thyroid cartilage

Purulent chondritis of the laryngeal cartilage is defined as a chondritis of the laryngeal framework cartilage with abscess formation between the inner and outer perichondria. To the best of our knowledge, only 1 report of purulent chondritis of the laryngeal framework cartilage has been published previously in the English language literature. Our patient suffered from generalized weakness, myalgias, and sore throat for 1 month and hoarseness for 10 days before diagnosis. Fiberoptic laryngoscopy demonstrated a granuloma-like, whitish, exophytic mass in the anterior commissure of the false vocal cords and erythema and edema in both the arytenoid and false vocal cord mucosa. A computed tomography scan revealed abscess formation between the intact inner and outer perichondria of the thyroid cartilage. The treatment included rigid endoscopy, external incision and drainage, and steroid and antibiotic therapy. The culture resulted in no growth. We report on a patient with a case of purulent chondritis of the thyroid cartilage, which requires a high index of suspicion for its diagnosis.