The syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is characterized by hyponatremia and the plasma hypoosmolality induced by water retention attributable to persistent antidiuretic hormone (ADH) release. It has been reported that SIADH may occur due to various factors in patients with malignant tumor. We report a case of hypopharyngeal cancer complicated by SIADH following chemotherapy. A 72-year-old woman with hypopharyngeal cancer was treated by oral administration of S-1 and intravenous administration of low-dose cisplatin following radiation therapy. General fatigue and coma occurred during the third course of this chemotherapy, using S-1 and low-dose cisplatin. We believed that she had SIADH because of the results of examinations including hyponatremia, serum hypoosmolality and increasing serum ADH level. We treated her by fluid restriction and intravenous administration of hypertonic saline and furosemide, and she recovered. Unfortunately, her hypopharyngeal cancer gradually progressed and she died of acute pneumonia three months later.

Spindle cell carcinoma (SpCC) of the tongue is a relatively rare malignancy. We treated a patient with metachronous early squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in both margins of the tongue (right side first followed by left side). Eight years after treatment for the first SCC by surgery and radiotherapy, the second SCC occurred in the contralateral margin of the tongue. Surgical resection was performed for the second SCC, with local recurrence 8 months later associated with pathological change from SCC to SpCC. The SpCC was completely resected with wide surgical margins in combination with bilateral neck dissection. However, the patient developed pulmonary metastasis and died of respiratory failure 4 months after the final surgery. Postoperative inflammatory reaction followed by scar formation in the previously irradiated surgical site might have caused the transition from SCC to SpCC during the process of recurrence.

The findings that apoptosis was induced in the outer hair cells of the organ of Corti by NO suggests the possibility that the cochlea is affected when extra NO release occurs there, leading to cochlear dysfunction.

Cervical paragangliomas are rare tumors derived from neural crest cells. Anatomic imaging techniques rely upon the characteristic spatial relations and the high vascularity of this tumor. Results of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and arteriography initially led us to the preoperative diagnosis of cervical paraganglioma. In our case, 2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET), a type of functional imaging, was also carried out and demonstrated abnormally increased tracer uptake; this approach was thus successful for visualizing paraganglioma. FDG PET imaging may be useful in the detection of benign paraganglioma. On surgical exploration of the neck, the tumor was found to arise from the vagus nerve, whereas the hypoglossal nerve was encompassed by the tumor in its upper portion. The intraoperative findings suggested the possibility that the tumor had arisen from the hypoglossal nerve.

This concurrent chemoradiotherapy is very useful for oral and maxillary carcinoma as a preoperative modality with remarkably high response rate and acceptable adverse events.