1998 Volume 91 Issue 11 Pages 1115-1120
We report a case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in the nasopharynx. A woman, aged 59, who suffered from chronic otitis media with effusion was referred to our department due to a mass lesion on the Rosenmuller's fossa. The mass lesion was pathologically diagnosed as a mucoepidermoid carcinoma. CT and MRI scans showed a well bordered round shadow which was limited to the orifice of the left eustachian tube, without invasion of the skull base.
As the patient did not agree to surgical treatment, we selected radiotherapy using a gamma knife for treatment of the nasopharyngeal tumor. The tumor responded well to gamma knife treatment and disappeared with 30Gy irradiation (Edge dose). The patient has shown no recurrence of the tumor for a year and 6 months after treatment. Gamma knife radiotherapy may be one potential treatment strategy for intractable lesions of the head and neck such as mucoepidermoid carcinoma in the nasopharynx.
