Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2001 May;44(5):538-542.

Salvage Surgery for Locally Recurred Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

• Han KY
• Koh KS
• Kim CJ
• Kim SY

Abstract

There are several options for the management of patients with locally recurred nasopharyngeal carcinoma after irradiation. Many patients can benefit from reirradiation but the complications of high dose irradiation for the second time are often severe and unbearable. In some patients, the recurred lesion may persist even after the reirradiation. Obtaining an adequate exposure of the nasopharynx for an oncologic surgical procedure has been challenging because of its surgical inaccessibility. However, improvements in the surgical approaches to the nasopharynx and paranasopharynx have been made in recent years. Two illustrative cases, in which we performed salvage surgery, are presented in this article. Using the maxillary swing approach, we removed the recurrent nasopharyngeal tumor in a 43 year old female patient. The reassembly of the osseous and soft tissues was not difficult and the associated morbidity was acceptable. In a 19 year old male patient, subtemporal-preauricular infratemporal fossa approach was performed with low morbidity for the removal of tumor recurred at the pterygopalatine fossa.

Keyword

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; Salvage Surgery

MeSH Terms

Adult
Female
Humans
Male
Nasopharynx
Pterygopalatine Fossa
Young Adult