Abstract
Internal jugular vein stenosis and thrombosis are major complications of neck dissection. However, thrombosis of the internal carotid artery is very rare. We report a case of left internal carotid artery thrombosis following an operation for left maxillary carcinoma, including neck dissection. A 70-year-old man visited our department because of palatine swelling. He had a history of gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, and lung cancer. An indurative tumor mass was seen in the palate, and squamous cell carcinoma of the maxilla (T4N2bM0) was diagnosed on biopsy and computed to mography. The patient received preoperative chemotherapy with TXT 86mg and CDGP 144mg. He then underwent partial resection of the maxilla and left-side total neck dissection. He received postoperative irradiation in a dose of 1.8Gy/day. After 50.4Gy of irradiation, he complained of a dull pain in the left side of the neck. Ultrasonography (US) and angiography of the neck demonstrated a mobile thrombosis, about 2mm in diameter, in the internal carotid artery above the bifurcation, accomparied by stenosis (30%) of the artery.
The patient received Byaspirin® (100mg/day) for a month. After treatment, US revealed on thrombosis. At present, the patient also has no evidence of cancer or thrombosis.
