Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-19T18:45:35.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Diagnostic dilemma of an atraumatic clavicle fracture following radical treatment for laryngeal carcinoma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

Sarah Pellard
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, South Wales, UK
Laura Moss
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Oncology, Velindre Hospital, Cardiff, South Wales, UK
Jamie M Boyce
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, South Wales, UK
Marcus J K M Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, South Wales, UK

Abstract

An atraumatic clavicular fracture presented after radical treatment for laryngeal carcinoma. This presented a diagnostic dilemma. The differential diagnosis included metastatic bone disease and osteomyelitis as well as post-radiotherapy complications. After investigation, the cause was thought to be a post-radiation fracture of the clavicle and to the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first ever documented in a patient who had undergone a total laryngectomy with bilateral modified radical neck dissections and post-operative radiotherapy. Cases of a fractured clavicle post-radiation have been most commonly documented in patients with breast cancer and only a few cases have been documented in patients with laryngeal cancer treated with a total laryngectomy, bilateral radical neck dissections and radiotherapy.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2005 Royal Society of Medicine Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)