Multidisciplinary management of a giant and obstructive laryngeal myxoma

Myxomas are benign lesions which can arise in any anatomic location but are mainly found in the heart. Exceptionally they interest the head and neck district, where the most frequently involved sites are the mandible and the maxilla. There are only few described cases of myxomas of the larynx. Here we report a new case of a laryngeal myxoma of the left true vocal fold, the second occurred in a female patient, presenting with severe dyspnea, dysphonia and dysphagia. We describe this case for two reasons. First is because it presents intubation which was safely treated through careful planning. Ameticulous treatment planning by surgeon and anaesthetist was made mutually carried out prior to microlaryngoscopic excision in case di large vocal cord polyps causing severe airway obstruction. The second reason is because a laryngeal myxoma is a very rare lesion. We provide a review of the literature, focusing on possible risk factors, and discuss the differential diagnosis and the best treatment options in laryngeal myxoma.