Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of tracheostomy site in a patient with a history of juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis

Juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis is the commonest cause of benign epithelial tumours of the larynx. Following diagnostic biopsy, surgical debulking is the mainstay of therapy. The condition is often recurrent with further papillomas forming after debridement, requiring serial procedures and occasionally demanding tracheostomy. Rarely, the disease can undergo malignant transformation; most commonly to squamous cell carcinoma. We describe the first reported case of small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma occurring in the previous tracheostomy site of a 29-year-old male with a history of juvenile laryngeal papillomatosis. The patient, with a background of multiple treatments for juvenile papillomas, presented with voice change, breathing difficultly and erythema at the site of previous tracheostomy. Induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation was used to treat the lesion with a good response to initial therapy.