-Case Reports-

Three Cases of Carcinoma of the Hypopharynx Developing as Metachronous Second Primary Cancers after Total Laryngectomy with Radiotherapy for Carcinoma of the Larynx

Kazuhiko Yokoshima, Munenaga Nakamizo, Takayuki Kokawa, Shunta Inai, Atsuko Sakanushi, Yukiko Saito and Kimihiro Okubo

Department of Head & Neck and Sensory Organ Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School

We describe 3 cases of metachronous hypopharyngeal cancer developing after laryngeal cancer had been treated with both radiotherapy and total laryngectomy.
All 3 patients were men, 2 were 89 years old, and 1 was 65 years old. All patients had undergone total laryngectomy and radiotherapy for cancer for the glottis more than 20 years earlier. All patients underwent total hypopharyngectomy with jejunal free flap reconstruction. Surgery was complicated by scars from previous cancer treatment, and highly sophisticated surgical skills are needed, especially for preparing the recipient vessels. The postoperative period was largely uneventful and without fatal complications, however, 2 of the 3 patients died of distant metastasis 22 months and 31 months after surgery.

J Nippon Med Sch 2011; 78: 261-266

Keywords
hypopharyngeal cancer, salvage surgery, second primary cancer, radiation induced malignancy

Correspondence to
Kazuhiko Yokoshima, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan
kyok@nms.ac.jp

Received, February 7, 2011
Accepted, April 21, 2011