Vol.97 No.11
contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 97 No.11 November 2004
Primary Small Cell Carcinoma of the
Oropharynx: A Case Report
Tomofumi Okamiya, Tomoko Chiyoda and Masahiko Muroi
(Tatebayashi Kousei Hospital)
Nobuhiko Furuya
(Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University)
We report an extremely rare case of primary small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.
A 74-year-old male patient complaining of massive cervical tumor had a small uvular lesion. A biopsy of the uvular tumor and immunohistochemical analysis led to a histological diagnosis of small cell carcinoma. We diagnosed primary small cell carcinoma of the oropharynx and metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes since he had no chest lesion. He was treated with radiation therapy, because chemotherapy could not be used due to his bad general condition and several severe complications. Eventually, the patient died due to sepsis from a decubitus ulcer, in spite of the satisfactory clinical effect of the radiation therapy on the oropharyngeal primary lesion and the cervical tumor.
Small cell carcinoma is a special neoplasm both pathologically and clinically. We should create a protocol for the treatment of laryngopharyngeal small cell carcinoma as a systemic disease.
Key words : small cell carcinoma, oropharynx, systemic disease