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The paper describes the clinical, morphological, and immunohistochemical characteristics of 13 granular cell tumors of the upper airway. These tumors are shown to have virtually the same histological and immunohistochemical features as granular cell tumors at another site. The histogenesis of these tumors is discussed. There are currently a number of more or less solid grounds for considering them as neurogenic tumors to be close to schwannomas. At the same time one cannot ignore the fact that there is morphological and immunohistochemical evidence for that the granular cell tumors have rather cytotypical than histotypical properties, which cannot implicitly assign them to nerve tissue tumors. Most likely, the granular cell tumors belong to a histogenetically heterogeneous mixed group, in this connection their place in the classification of tumors needs further investigation, by applying the criteria developed by Russian histologists and oncomorphologists.

On the basis of histological and ultrastructural study of 57 neurilemmomas 4 main morphological types of tumour are distinguished; with a prevalence of the Antoni A type tissue, with a prevalence of the tissue of the transitory zone, prevalence of the Antoni B type tissue and a fibrosing variant of neurilemmoma. A variety of the morphological variants of neurilemmoma is due to different quantitative combination of morphological sings of degeneration and necrosis of tumour cells with the organization of the aseptic necrosis of tumour cells with the organization of the aseptic necrosis by their replacement with a fibrous tissue. The peculiarity of the peripheral nerve blood supply is a premise for the development of tumour cell degeneration.