Secondary primary tumor mimicking osteoradionecrosis

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant tumor rarely found in the head and neck, representing about 1% of all malignancies. The main treatment for NPC is radiation therapy, which is often given in combination with chemotherapy. However, such treatment may lead to long‐term complications, including second primary tumors (SPTs) and osteoradionecrosis (ORN). Both complications have similar radiological characteristics, which can lead to erroneous diagnoses. This paper describes a case of a second primary tumor in a patient after 20 years of radiotherapy in the area where a previous extraction was performed, mimicking an osteoradionecrosis process.

Keywords

• Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
• second primary neoplasms
• squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck
• osteoradionecrosis
• case reports