Retropharyngeal neuroblastoma in an infant: management without surgery.
Retropharyngeal neuroblastoma is rare. We report a 3-month-old infant with retropharyngeal neuroblastoma presenting with airway compression, which had an unresectable localized tumor without N-myc amplification. He was promptly treated with chemotherapy, resulting in a dramatic resolution. Subsequently, he received no surgical intervention and is well without evidence of recurrence 10 months after completion of chemotherapy. A review of the literature reveals that retropharyngeal neuroblastoma in infants has a good prognosis, but with some risk of surgical complication. Thus, it might be better to treat unresectable, localized disease accompanied by life-threatening symptoms with chemotherapy alone.
Matsumura
Risa
R
Department of Pediatrics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan.
Ohta
Hideaki
H
Kusuki
Shigenori
S
Yoshida
Hisao
H
Sato
Emiko
E
Hashii
Yoshiko
Y
Uehara
Shuichiro
S
Oue
Takaharu
T
Fukuzawa
Masahiro
M
Ishida
Hiroyuki
H
Ozono
Keiichi
K
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D017703:Retropharyngeal Abscess / Q000473:pathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome