MRI in radiation-induced myelopathy and pharyngocutaneous fistula.
A patient developed a cervical myelopathy 20 months after radiotherapy for a carcinoma of the larynx. MRI showed an intramedullary lesion at C7. Although radiation myelopathy was suspected, tumour recurrence could not be excluded. A radiation-induced pharyngocutaneous fistula, confirmed histologically, appeared a month later. The fistula lay just anterior to the level of the spinal cord lesion, a finding useful in supporting a diagnosis of simultaneous radiation myelopathy.
Combarros
O
O
Service of Neurology, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, Faculty of Medicine, Santander, Spain.
Iglesias
F
F
Guitera
M V
MV
Berciano
J
J
D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D017577:Cutaneous Fistula / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010608:Pharyngeal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis