[Sarcomatoid carcinoma of larynx. A histological challenge?]

Sarcomatoid carcinoma can occur in any part of the body; in the head and neck it occurs most frequently in the major salivary glands, with only about 1% of cases found in the larynx. As it has both epithelial and mesenchymal components, there are many theories concerning its origin and it can prove a diagnostic challenge.

A 76 year old male smoker presented with dysphonia. Vocal cord injury was found on examination but no lymphadenopathy or metastases were present. Laryngeal microsurgery was performed with complete excision of the lesion. Histopathology showed it to be a carcinosarcoma which showed intense and diffuse positivity for vimentin and focal positivity for AE1-AE3, CK5 and p63. The patient underwent radiotherapy as complementary treatment.

Sarcomatoid carcinoma usually presents with obstructive symptoms such as dysphonia. Prognosis depends on the stage and the presence or not of metastases. Both epithelial markers EMA, cytokeratin (AE1-AE3), epithelial membrane antigen, Ki 67 and mesenchymal markers such as vimentin, desmin, S-100 may be positive in these tumours. Recommended treatment for T2-T1 stages is an excisional biopsy which can be followed by adjuvant radiotherapy; radiotherapy alone has also been successful. T3-T4 stages can be treated with local excision, partial laryngectomy or total laryngectomy with subsequent ganglion emptying and concomitant radio and chemotherapy.