Contact Nd-YAG Laser Therapy for Laryngopharyngeal Hemangioma

A 23-year-old woman complained of a feeling of a lump in her throat. Pharyngeal and laryngeal examination revealed a large dark purple mass from epi pharynx to hypopharynx and larynx.The laryngeal tumor located on the submucosal condition in the supraglottic area so that the right vocal cord could not be distinguished from the right false cord. MRI showed clearly the tumor shadow under the sternocleidomastoideus muscle.Most of the tumor was excised by right lateral pharyngostomy, neck dissection and the extended tonsillectomy. Pathological examination of the tumor revealed cavernous hemangioma. But all the hemangioma tissue in the false and true vocal cord was not purposely resected to avoid the functional disorder of the larynx. We attempted to use the contact Nd-YAG laser for the intra laryngeal tumor. We inserted the laser probe into the several points through the right false cord into the tumor tissue and then vaporized and coagulated these the tumor with low power. After one month the true vocal cord could be recognized clearly and functional disorder could not be seen. Eight months later after operation the tumor recurrence in the larynx is not seen.The contact Nd-YAG laser vaporizing and coagulation therapy is much more useful for hemangioma of the upper aerodigestive tract as compared as the conventional Nd-YAG photocoagulation.