transoral endoscopic-assisted resection of laryngeal schwannoma: a case report

Introduction: schwannoma, a peculiar benign nerve sheath tumour, is frequently hard to differentiate from other nerve tumours, such as neurofibroma. around 25%-45% of all schwannomas emerge in the head and neck region, but only 0.1-1.5 % involve laryngeal structure. this tumour is most accurately diagnosed with biopsy via direct laryngoscopy; however, at some points this approach cannot detect a definitive diagnosis due to the surrounding capsule of the tumour and its similar histopathologic finding with other nerve sheath tumour.case report: here, a case of 56-year-old female is reported with chief complaints of severe progressive dyspnea and dysphagia. diagnosis of schwannoma was confirmed on radiological and histopathological examination with certain hurdles. a complete surgical excision via endoscopic approach was done, revealing that the bottom of the mass was attached to the right arytenoid mucosa. the histopathological features showed non-malignant atypical neurofibroma but later confirmed as laryngeal schwannoma from immunohistochemical staining.conclusion: although schwannoma has an excellent outcome and prognosis when occurring elsewhere in the body, laryngeal involvement is an extremely rare area for this lesion. complete resection with a patient-customized approach to the lesion is required to avoid relapses and provide good functional results.