Department of Radiology, Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2011 Jun-Jul;32(6):1113-8. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A2444. Epub 2011 Apr 14.
Sclerosis of the arytenoid cartilage may be seen as an incidental finding in patients who do not have laryngeal cancer but may also be an early sign of neoplastic infiltration. Our purpose was to determine the frequency of asymmetric mineralization, in particular sclerosis, of the arytenoid cartilages on CT scans in adults who have no history of laryngeal cancer.
Cervical CT scans of 972 consecutive patients seen in our emergency department were retrospectively evaluated. Three hundred twenty-two patients were excluded who were younger than 18 years of age or whose arytenoids could not be reliably seen due to artifacts. Six hundred fifty patients (424 men, 226 women) were assessed, and their arytenoid cartilages were graded as nonmineralized, calcified, sclerotic, or ossified on each side separately. The mean age of patients was 44.3 ± 17.8 years (range, 18-97 years).
The frequencies of asymmetric arytenoid cartilage sclerosis, calcification, and ossification were 4.9% (32/650), 4.4% (29/650), and 3.4% (23/650), respectively, with an overall asymmetric mineralization frequency of 12.9% (84/650). Asymmetric sclerosis was more common in women (16/226, 7.1%) than in men (16/424, 3.8%), but the difference was just at statistical significance (P = .05). The rate of unilateral arytenoid sclerosis was 4.6% in all subjects, 6.6% in women, and 3.5% in men. Unilateral sclerosis is much more frequently associated with the left arytenoid than the right.
Asymmetric mineralization of the arytenoid cartilages was seen in 12.9% of our study population. This should be taken into account when evaluating CT scans of patients with laryngeal cancer for arytenoid cartilage invasion to avoid false-positive reads.
杓状软骨的硬化可能在没有喉癌的患者中作为偶然发现，但也可能是肿瘤浸润的早期迹象。我们的目的是确定在没有喉癌病史的成年人的 CT 扫描中，杓状软骨不对称性矿化（特别是硬化）的频率。
回顾性评估了我院急诊科 972 例连续患者的颈椎 CT 扫描。排除了 322 例年龄小于 18 岁或由于伪影而无法可靠观察杓状软骨的患者。评估了 650 例患者（424 例男性，226 例女性），并分别对每侧的杓状软骨进行非矿化、钙化、硬化或骨化分级。患者的平均年龄为 44.3±17.8 岁（范围，18-97 岁）。
不对称杓状软骨硬化、钙化和骨化的频率分别为 4.9%（32/650）、4.4%（29/650）和 3.4%（23/650），总不对称矿化频率为 12.9%（84/650）。不对称性硬化在女性中更为常见（226 例中的 16 例，7.1%），而在男性中则较少见（424 例中的 16 例，3.8%），但差异仅具有统计学意义（P=.05）。所有受试者中单侧杓状软骨硬化的发生率为 4.6%，女性为 6.6%，男性为 3.5%。单侧硬化更常与左侧杓状软骨有关，而不是右侧。
在我们的研究人群中，12.9%的患者存在杓状软骨不对称性矿化。在评估喉癌患者的 CT 扫描以评估杓状软骨侵犯时，应考虑到这一点，以避免假阳性读数。
