Clinicopathological features of atypical lipomatous tumors of the laryngopharynx

Atypical lipomatous tumor (ALT) of the laryngopharynx is rare. Here we report five cases to demonstrate their clinicopathological features. The patients were four males and one female, aged 41 to 69 years (median 53.6 years). All tumors (two in the hypopharynx and three in the larynx) presented as a slowly growing, painless mass. Symptoms included dysphagia (2/5), dysphonia (3/5), and the feeling of a foreign body in the throat (5/5). Tumors were well circumscribed or focally infiltrative, ranging from 2.0 to 5.0 cm (median, 3.4 cm) in size, and microscopically showed the typical features of lipoma-like ALT. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were stained with S-100, vimentin, murine double minute 2 (MDM-2), and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4). Two patients had local tumor recurrences at 6 and 14 months after initial surgery during follow-up. ALT of laryngopharynx is an indolent tumor. Immunohistochemical staining for MDM-2 and CDK4 is helpful in pathological diagnosis.