Chondroradionecrosis in two patients with laryngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Postradiotherapy necrosis in the larynx is a rare but serious complication. It must be differentiated from tumor recurrence with radiological and histopathological studies. Herein, we presented two patients with stage II and stage IV larynx carcinoma who developed chondroradionecrosis following radiotherapy. The first patient did not accept surgical treatment and was treated with curative radiotherapy at a dose of 70 Gy. The other one received adjuvant radiotherapy at a dose of 46 Gy following total laryngectomy and bilateral functional neck dissection. The two patients were evaluated with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, respectively. Pathologic examination of multiple biopsies taken from both cases showed coagulation necrosis without malignancy. The first patient had grade IV radionecrosis according to the Chandler classification and underwent total laryngectomy because of non-functional larynx. Histopathologically, there were no malignant cells, but widespread fibrosis and coagulation necrosis. The other patient was treated with conservative treatment and local debridement.