Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
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A case of vocal cord gnathostomiasis diagnosed with sectional morphologies in a histopathological specimen from a Chinese woman living in Korea

  • Doo Sik Park (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital) ;
  • Eun Hyun Cho (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital) ;
  • Kyung Hoon Park (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital) ;
  • Soo Min Jo (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital) ;
  • Bumjung Park (Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital) ;
  • Sun Huh (Department of Parasitology and Institute of Medical Education, College of Medicine, Hallym University)
  • Received : 2023.05.30
  • Accepted : 2023.07.23
  • Published : 2023.08.31
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Abstract

This study aimed to describe a rare case of gnathostomiasis in the vocal cord. A 54-yearold Chinese woman living in Korea visited with a chief complaint of voice change at the outpatient department of otorhinolaryngology in Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University on August 2, 2021. She had eaten raw conger a few weeks before the voice change developed, but her medical history and physical examinations demonstrated neither gastrointestinal symptoms nor other health problems. A round and red cystic lesion, recognized in the anterior part of the right vocal cord, was removed using forceps and scissors through laryngeal microsurgery. The histopathological specimen of the cyst revealed 3 cross-sections of a nematode larva in the lumen of the cyst wall composed of inflammatory cells and fibrotic tissues. They differ in diameter, from 190 ㎛ to 235 ㎛. They showed characteristic cuticular layers with tegumental spines, somatic muscle layers, and gastrointestinal tracts such as the esophagus and intestine. Notably, intestinal sections consisted of 27-28 lining cells containing 0-4 nuclei per cell. We tentatively identified the nematode larva recovered from the vocal cord cystic lesion as the thirdstage larva of Gnathostoma, probably G. nipponicum or G. hispidum, based on the sectional morphologies.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The species identification was indebted to Dr. Jong-Yil Chai, Professor Emeritus of Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Dr. Woon-Mok Sohn, Professor Emeritus of Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine.

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