Head drop syndrome secondary to multimodality treatments for head and neck cancer

Five patients under follow‐up for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at Southern General Hospital Glasgow presented with a fixed flexion deformity of the neck. These cases are characterized by the onset of severe weakness and atrophy of the neck extensor muscles and anterior fibrosis forcin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Laryngoscope 2013-04, Vol.123 (4), p.938-941
Main Authors: Smillie, Ian, Ellul, David, Townsley, Richard, James, Allan, Clark, Brian, Petty, Richard K. H., Clark, Louise
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - therapy
Chemotherapy
Combined Modality Therapy - adverse effects
complications
Fibrosis - etiology
Head and Neck Neoplasms - therapy
head drop
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
multimodality
Muscle Weakness - etiology
Muscular Atrophy - etiology
Neck Muscles - pathology
radiotherapy
squamous cell carcinoma
Syndrome
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Summary:Five patients under follow‐up for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at Southern General Hospital Glasgow presented with a fixed flexion deformity of the neck. These cases are characterized by the onset of severe weakness and atrophy of the neck extensor muscles and anterior fibrosis forcing the mandible to the chest wall. This causes considerable morbidity with communication, feeding, and appearance. This is a rare complication with no curative treatments that has not been reported previously by a UK center and is likely to become important with the increased use of multimodality treatments for head and neck SCC.
ISSN:0023-852X
1531-4995
DOI:10.1002/lary.23857