Case Report

Multimodal Treatment for Undiferentiated Carcinoma of the Lacrimal Sac

Hiroshi Doi, Masayuki Fujiwara, Yasuhiro Takada, Yasue Niwa, Norihiko Kamikonya, Maki Tonooka, Takashi Ito, Tomonori Terada, Masao Kakibuchi and Shozo Hirota
World Journal of Surgical Medical and Radiation Oncology 2012, 1:18

Abstract

Introduction

Primary undifferentiated carcinomas of the lacrimal sac are extremely rare with only a few documented cases and with no cases of Japanese patients to best of our knowledge.

Case report

A 49-year-old female with lacrimation and an orbital mass was referred to our hospital. FDG-PET did not reveal any evidence of metastatic diseases. The patient was treated with a wide resection of right orbital tumor. The pathological examination led to a diagnosis of undifferentiated carcinoma. The postoperative site received 60 Gy in 30 fractions as adjuvant radiotherapy. Neck dissection was performed later. Two cycles of systemic chemotherapy, consisting of docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil, were delivered sequentially. However, multiple metastatic lesions occurred in the lung, skin and lymph nodes. The patient died 7 months after the initial operation.

Conclusion

The undifferentiated carcinoma of the lacrimal sac exhibited an aggressive behavior with a poor prognosis. Therefore, a careful follow-up is required, because recurrence and metastasis may occur within a very short period of time after the initial treatment.

keywords

Lacrimal sac tumor, Orbital tumor, Undifferentiated carcinoma, Radiotherapy, Head and neck cancer

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