BACKGROUND/AIM: First bite syndrome (FBS) is a symptom of severe pain at the beginning of a meal that lessens as the meal progresses. It is a common postoperative complication of parapharyngeal space tumors and is rarely reported as the first symptom of parotid carcinoma. The parapharyngeal space is considered a difficult area for approach; hence, preoperative histopathology is often challenging. However, there are hardly any reports on the approach of performing biopsies under computerized tomography (CT) guidance. CASE REPORT: A 28-year-old woman presented to our hospital with the chief complaint of pain in the left parotid region since the past year. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the parotid gland revealed a 10-mm high-signal area on T2-weighted images extending from the deep lobe of the left parotid gland to the parapharyngeal space, which could not be visualized on ultrasound. She was suspected to have a malignant tumor because of the presence of a parotid tumor with FBS. Therefore, she underwent CT-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma. The patient underwent left parotid tumor resection and left cervical dissection, and her pain during feeding improved postoperatively. CONCLUSION: In a patient with parotid tumor extending into the parapharyngeal space with FBS as the initial symptom, CT-guided FNAC was successfully used to diagnose parotid carcinoma. Symptoms of pain, including FBS, should be considered in cases of malignancy. CT-guided FNAC is effective for lesions that cannot be visualized by ultrasound, such as those in the parapharyngeal space.
Image-Guided Biopsy , Parotid Neoplasms , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Humans , Female , Parotid Neoplasms/pathology , Parotid Neoplasms/diagnosis , Parotid Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Parotid Neoplasms/surgery , Adult , Biopsy, Fine-Needle , Image-Guided Biopsy/methods , Parotid Gland/pathology , Parotid Gland/diagnostic imaging , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Cytology
Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and transoral videolaryngoscopic surgery (TOVS) are minimally invasive procedures for early-stage head and neck cancers. However, due to its unique nature, transoral resection often leads to skeletal and anatomical disorders. We describe a case in which TORS was used in a 71-year-old man with a skeletal disorder, spastic stridor, and a T2N1M0 stage I p16-positive oropharyngeal carcinoma. Prior to the procedure, he underwent right cervical dissection (levels II-IV). Although he had an oblique neck, the right side of his neck was naturally hyperextended because the dissection was performed on the right side. The right facial, lingual, and external carotid arteries were ligated in preparation for TORS. Postoperative pathological examination revealed no extranodal involvement of the metastatic lymph nodes. A two-stage TOVS procedure was performed for the oropharyngeal tumor, in which the surgeon was required to be positioned at the patient's head to allow direct manipulation. This makes the neck and oral cavity more susceptible to the skeletal effects. In contrast, in TORS, the da Vinci insertion angle can be set to match the angle of the neck, allowing surgeons to operate with less skeletal influence. TORS is more useful in this setting.
