Malignant Disease of the Larynx: Rare Types, Premalignant Conditions and Conditions Simulating Malignancy

It is not uncommon for apparently benign conditions in the larynx eventually to become malignant. I use the word malignant to cover all types of sarcoma and carcinoma in their varied manifestations, and the apparently benign growths which eventuate in malignant processes. These, I am inclined to believe, are malignant from the start, the phenomena of frank malignancy being held in leash by some biologic factor yet unknown. Dr. Jackson speaks of them as premalignant or precancerous—an excellent definition. My clinical experience in watching many apparently benign conditions progress slowly, at times very slowly, to frankly malignant conditions suggests that they may be more than premalignant and that somewhere in the structure, concealed from the physical eye, malignant changes are active long before they become manifest, even from the start. In other words, premalignancy may mean the initial stage of malignancy and a true part of it. Years ago, I