title: A case report: Epstein-Barr virus-associated undifferentiated carcinoma of the tongue base.
abstract: Outside the nasopharynx, undifferentiated carcinomas occur only rarely at other head and neck locations. Although the association between undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is consistent, there is conflicting evidence as to the association of EBV with undifferentiated carcinomas outside the nasopharynx. Here, we report on a case of undifferentiated carcinoma of the tongue base. A 71-year-old male, who had been treated with irradiation for primary unknown right neck metastatic EBV-positive undifferentiated carcinoma 9 years previously, was referred to our clinic with masses at the tongue base and right neck. The lesion at the tongue base was revealed to be an EBV-positive undifferentiated carcinoma. He was treated with resection of tongue base tumor and bilateral-neck dissection, and the defect at the tongue base was reconstructed with a free rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap. Re-irradiation was added post-operatively because of a positive surgical margin at the tongue base. The patient is presently alive without recurrence or distant metastasis 20 months after treatment. Although it is unclear whether our case is recurrent or newly developed EBV-latently infected undifferentiated carcinoma, we propose that EBV-associated tumors should be carefully observed after treatment at least for more than 10 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Takara-Machi 13-1, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wakisaka
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murono
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minato
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshizaki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D037981:Neck Dissection; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology*; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000150:complications*