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Isolated laryngeal amyloidosis: a case report

Abstract

Background

Amyloidosis is extracellular deposition of an amorphous amyloid substance in various tissues. It can occur in any bodily organ. Clinically, it is divided into systemic and solitary amyloidosis. Isolated laryngeal amyloidosis is very rare in prevalence. We report a case of isolated laryngeal amyloidosis in a healthy 54-year-old lady who presented chronic dysphonia for 2 years with no history of smoking or alcohol intake. The histological, immunohistochemical study and further examinations confirmed the diagnosis of isolated laryngeal amyloidosis without systemic involvement. The larynx is a rare site for isolated laryngeal amyloidosis. Hoarseness or dysphonia is the main presentation of this disease, followed by difficulty in breathing, stridor, and chronic cough. Laryngoscopy may falsely suggest a neoplastic disease. Histopathology is the gold standard diagnostic tool to diagnose this disease. Amyloid can be identified histologically as subepithelial extracellular deposits of acellular, homogeneous, and amorphous eosinophilic material displaying apple–green birefringence with polarized light when stained with Congo red. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment of symptomatic laryngeal amyloidosis. The survival of patients with laryngeal amyloidosis often exceeds 10 years and the prognosis is better than systemic amyloidosis.

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Correspondence to Mawaddah Azman MS, ORL-HNS.

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Zainol, S., Azman, M. & Muthusamy, S. Isolated laryngeal amyloidosis: a case report. Egypt J Otolaryngol 34, 359–362 (2018). https://doi.org/10.4103/ejo.ejo_12_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ejo.ejo_12_18

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