Warthin’s tumor of the larynx: a very rare case and systematic review of the literature

Lluís Nisa, Basile Nicolas Landis, Cinzia Salmina, Angeliki Ailianou, Eva Karamitopoulou, Roland Giger

Warthin's tumor or cystadenolymphoma (CAL) is a benign salivary gland tumor occurring almost exclusively in the parotid gland. CALs of other locations are rare. We report a laryngeal CAL detected in a positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) performed for breast cancer follow-up. The tumor was successfully treated by transoral surgery. Only 14 cases of laryngeal CAL are reported worldwide. These cases confirmed our experience of an uncomplicated and mostly successful transoral resection. CALs of the larynx are very rare. They are characterized by hypermetabolism in PET/CT. The increasing use of PET/CT investigations in cancer patients could give rise to more incidental findings of CALs at unusual locations such as the larynx.