Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the larynx-a case report.

OBJECTIVES

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a borderline neoplasm with uncertain malignant potential. It is a rare disease also referred to as an inflammatory pseudotumor, a plasma cell granuloma, and an inflammatory fibrosarcoma. IMT rarely also involves the head and neck region with only 50 cases of laryngeal IMT reported in the literature, and this is the first case with reported magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.

METHODS

A 37-year-old man with a 1-year history of hoarseness, dysphagia, and fatigue presented with a right vocal fold submucosal mass and was treated conservatively.

RESULTS

The MRI of the neck revealed a mildly spontaneously hyperintense right true vocal fold on GRE images and relative hyperintensity on fat-saturation T2-weighted images. A biopsy of the right-sided submucosal laryngeal mass was performed and the pathologic examination revealed a lesion consistent with an IMT.

CONCLUSION

IMT is a borderline neoplasm with uncertain malignant potential. There are many variants of IMT and its etiology is not truly understood. In general, IMT of the larynx has a benign clinical course with low rates of recurrence.