Carcinoma arising from pharyngeal diverticula.
BACKGROUND
Pharyngeal diverticulum or Zenker's diverticulum carcinoma is a rare malignancy with a poor prognosis. Carcinoma arising in a recurrent pharyngeal diverticulum is even rarer, with only 1 such case reported in the English-language literature. We report 2 patients with pharyngeal diverticulum carcinoma exhibiting an unusual presentation and good long-term, disease-free survival with normal speech and swallowing.


METHODS
A 70-year-old man with a carcinoma in a recurrent pharyngeal diverticulum excised 20 years previously and a 65-year-old man with a neck mass as the only presentation of pharyngeal diverticulum carcinoma.


RESULTS
Our patients were treated with open resection, laryngeal preservation, and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT), resulting in long-term tumor control and disease-free survival of 5 and 15 years (longest reported), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
One-stage diverticulectomy with or without radiotherapy is the treatment of choice and can provide long-term control and survival.
Head and Neck Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, SW3 6JJ, United Kingdom. afroze.khan@nhs.net
Afroze Shah
AS
Khan
Raghav C
RC
Dwivedi
Abbas Shah
AS
Khan
Khin
K
Thway
Cyril
C
Fisher
Peter H
PH
Rhys-Evans
D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell; D004240:Diverticulum / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018307:Neoplasms, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D010608:Pharyngeal Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D010611:Pharyngectomy / Q000379:methods; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology*; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; D016896:Treatment Outcome