Solitary plasmacytoma of the larynx and upper trachea associated with systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Solitary plasmacytoma rarely involves the larynx and trachea. This tumor caused severe laryngeal and tracheal obstruction in an adolescent female with systemic lupus erythematosus of nine years' duration. Her systemic disease had been in remission at the time she developed symptoms of laryngeal and tracheal obstruction by plasmacytoma invasion. A complete survey failed to reveal any other focus of tumor. Because steroid therapy failed to clear the plasma cell infiltrate, she was treated with irradiation after the tumor was surgically debulked endoscopically. Postirradiation biopsy showed no evidence of tumor, but the patient continued to experience moderate airway obstruction from fibrosis in the irradiated trachea. The patient has been followed, and is free of disease nine years after establishing the diagnosis.