ABSTRACT
The prognosis of advanced temporal bone cancer is poor, because complete surgical resection is difficult to achieve. Chemoradiotherapy is one of the available curative treatment options; however, its systemic effects on the patient restrict the use of this treatment. A 69-year-old female (who needed peritoneal dialysis) presented at our clinic with T4 left external auditory canal cancer and was treated with cetuximab plus radiotherapy (RT). The primary lesion showed complete response. The patient is currently alive with no evidence of disease two years after completion of the treatment and does not show any late toxicity. This is the first advanced temporal bone cancer patient treated with RT plus cetuximab. Cetuximab plus RT might be a treatment alternative for patients with advanced temporal bone cancer.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological/therapeutic use , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/therapy , Cetuximab/therapeutic use , Ear Neoplasms/therapy , Head and Neck Neoplasms/therapy , Temporal Bone , Aged , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/complications , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/diagnostic imaging , Chemoradiotherapy , Ear Canal/diagnostic imaging , Ear Neoplasms/complications , Ear Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Female , Head and Neck Neoplasms/complications , Head and Neck Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Peritoneal Dialysis , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/complications , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/therapy , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and NeckABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The incidence of human papillomavirus- (HPV-) related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has been rapidly increasing worldwide. HPV is reported in approximately 50% cases of OPSCC in Japan. However, there are few reports of synchronous bilateral HPV-positive tonsillar carcinoma, and, in almost all those cases, carcinoma was detected using positron emission tomography/computed tomography and/or bilateral tonsillectomy. METHODS AND RESULTS: We report the case of a 63-year-old male with bilateral tonsillar carcinoma detected using transoral endoscopic examination with narrow-band imaging (NBI). A biopsy of the bilateral tonsils revealed squamous cell carcinoma, which was demonstrated to be HPV-related using in situ hybridization and p16 immunohistochemistry. The patient was diagnosed as synchronous bilateral tonsillar carcinoma: T1 (2) N2b M0. He was treated with induction chemotherapy, bilateral radical tonsillectomy with neck dissection, and radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first report of a synchronous bilateral tonsillar carcinoma detected using transoral NBI in the outpatient setting. Early diagnosis without the inspection under general anesthesia is beneficial for the patients with lymph node metastasis from unknown primary lesion.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Several reports have suggested that selected patients with human papillomavirus-related oropharyngeal cancer can be managed with surgery alone. We retrospectively reviewed tonsillar cancer cases to analyze treatment de-intensification after transoral resection. METHODS: Eighteen patients with tonsillar cancer who had undergone transoral resection were included. The patients' characteristics, p16 status, adverse features, clinical course, overall survival, and relapse-free survival according to p16 status were retrospectively examined. RESULTS: Four lesions showed positive surgical margins and one lesion showed close surgical margin; these patients were treated with postoperative irradiation. Seven p16-positive patients had multiple node metastases and two had extracapsular spread. No p16-positive patients agreed to postoperative irradiation, and recurrence within the surgical field was not observed. The five-year overall and relapse-free survival rates were 89% and 74%, respectively. The five-year relapse-free survival rates of p16-positive and p16-negative patients were 81% and 50%, respectively (p = .075). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative irradiation for cervical lymph node metastases might be avoidable in selected patients with human papillomavirus-related tonsillar cancer. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.