International Medical Case Reports Journal (Jun 2016)
Digital necrosis with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil
Abstract
Vinod Warrier,1 Ali Ahmad,1 Yaqoub Alshatti,1 Ali Jafar,2 1Department of Internal Medicine, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, Jabriya, Kuwait; 2Department of Surgical and Interventional Sciences, University College London, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK Background: Digital necrosis is a rare phenomenon of paraneoplastic syndrome associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil. Since 1965, more than 70 cases have been reported worldwide in the literature.Case report: A 54-year-old male smoker presented with Raynaud’s phenomenon, proceeding to frank gangrene of the fingers. Working up the case finally pointed toward carcinoma of the tonsil as the underlying cause – a rare paraneoplastic manifestation.Conclusion: No definite etiology has been found to be the cause of Raynaud’s phenomenon in this case of the squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil. A brief discussion of the literature is also presented. Keywords: acronecrosis, digital necrosis, paraneoplastic manifestations, Raynaud’s phenomenon, squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil