RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Leiomyosarcomas are mesenchymal malignant tumours that appear in smooth muscle cells. Their most frequent locations are the uterus and gastrointestinal tract. Their occurrence in head and neck is considered exceptional. We present a patient with a posterior neck region leiomyosarcoma who had received radiation for a nasopharyngeal carcinoma 20 years earlier. The incidence ratio of these tumours in radiated patients (therefore considered radiation-induced) ranges from 0,035 to 0,2%. Radiation-induced sarcomas are difficult to diagnose due to the induration and fibrosis in the radiated area and the non-specific symptoms that they present. Their prognosis is very poor.
Assuntos
Neoplasias de Cabeça e Pescoço/diagnóstico , Leiomiossarcoma/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Induzidas por Radiação/diagnóstico , Idoso , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection caused by fungi of the Mucorales order. It has a low incidence and is a potentially lethal infection which generally affects patients who are immunocompromised due to systemic disease. We report 7 cases of rhinocerebral mucormycosis in a retrospective study of 8 years (2000-2008) in haematological patients. An early diagnosis is essential, and therefore there must be a high level of clinical suspicion in patients with predisposing factors. Certainty diagnosis requires fungal cultures or biopsies of the affected areas which prove an invasion of the tissues by the characteristic hyphae. The key to treatment is early and aggressive surgical treatment, together with high intravenous doses of amphotericin B. Despite this, prognosis is poor and mortality is about 70-80%.