Nasopharyngeal carcinoma presenting as carotidynia in an 18-year-old patient

Abstract

AbstractIntroduction:Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can present with a variety of symptoms the most common being painless cervical lymph node metastases, epistaxis and conductive hearing loss.Case report:We report a case of an 18-year-old male patient presenting to the ENT department with left sided carotidynia – severe pain in the neck radiating up to his ear. He had a small, exquisitely tender lump just below the bifurcation of the left common carotid artery. After the appropriate investigations he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Discussion:In a literature search on Medline and Pubmed we found no reported cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma presenting with carotidynia, nor was carotidynia ever found to be associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Conclusion:We believe that this is the first reported case of such a presentation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.