title: A huge infiltrating squamous cell carcinoma of the neck 46 years after radiotherapy of a haemangioma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a higher risk for malignant tumours in patients who underwent any kind of radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  An 87-year-old patient with an extended squamous cell carcinoma of the neck was referred to our hospital. The large ulcerated tumour showed a deep infiltration of the para-vertebral muscles and the spinal processes C6-C7. The tumour was known since about six years and appeared about 46 years after low-dose radiotherapy of a cervical haemangioma of the neck in 1961. The large dimension of the tumour leaded to a radical surgical removal and a sufficient fast reconstruction strategy. The extended defect was covered by a pedicled lower musculocutaneous trapezius flap. No postoperative complications like partial necrosis, infection or movement disorders of the shoulder or a shoulder drop syndrome were seen. Ten weeks after the operation the patient showed a good functional and aesthetic result with no limitation of arm mobility. Two and a half years after radical intended surgery the patient was still alive and showed no recurrence of the tumour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion there is a need for a life-time lasting dermatological supervision in patients with a history of radiotherapy in the past, because the handling of patients with such an enlarged tumour is complicated.
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
authors: Konstanze
authors: K
authors: Scheller
authors: Alexander Walter
authors: AW
authors: Eckert
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Scheller