Palliative Management of Sarcomatoid Buccal Carcinoma by Laser Ablation

Abstract

Sarcomatoid change in buccal carcinoma is a rare and aggressive variant of Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) and most often a diagnostic dilemma. There are some reports of second primary sarcomatous tumours in the oral cavity and nasopharynx post irradiation. Synchronous and metachronous lesions in this category in the oral cavity and neck have also been reported. Spindle cell neoplasms comprise a diverse collection of benign and malignant tumours. These tumours are uncommon in the oral cavity, accounting for <1% of all tumours of oral region. It is an unusual aggressive variant that frequently recurs and metastasises. Herein, the author present a case report of a 45-year-old Indian male with a sarcomatoid lesion according to his previous reports in the oral cavity of five months duration at presentation. The patient presented late as he was not willing for surgery and hence a very extensive 9×5 cm lesion was observed. In addition, he had trismus, multiple, firm, fixed lymph nodes in the ipsilateral neck. The biopsy of the oral cavity tumour showed a histological appearance of spindle shaped cells with penetration of basement membrane suggestive of sarcomatoid carcinoma. He was treated with repeated ablative laser technique for the primary and metastatic nodes in the neck disease and chemotherapy. The patient resumed normal activities 14 days after the laser ablation.