Laryngocele, laryngeal mucocele, large saccules, and laryngeal saccular cysts: a developmental spectrum.

Abstract

AbstractSeveral clinically different benign lesions can arise from the saccular appendage. The precise lesion at a given time depends on:1.the size of the saccule;2.whether free communication is possible between the appendage and the laryngeal lumen; and3.the presence or absence of inflammation. These lesions represent a spectrum of lesions in that clinical manifestations can vary from those of one type of lesion to another.A tiny saccule of only a few millimeters in length, with its lumen isolated from the ventricle, presents as a cyst of the anterior ventricle. A larger appendage, also closed from the laryngeal lumen, presents as a cyst of the lateral larynx, the so‐called congenital cyst or lateral saccular cyst. This same cyst can extend into the neck through the thyrohyoid membrane. This cyst can be seen at any age but is most common in the newborn and infant.An air sac or cyst (laryngocele) also can present as a small lesion of the anterior ventricle or as a larger sac within the lateral intrinsic larynx or can extend into the neck by way of the thyrohyoid membrane. Whether the growth is a mucus‐containing cyst or an air sac depends upon whether there is a communication with the air column of the larynx at the ventricle; a laryngopyocele is an infected air sac.Recognition of the developmental spectrum of saccular lesions should simplify terminology.