Locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma in adolescents treated with tomotherapy: Experience at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre.

BACKGROUND: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare disease worldwide; To the best of our knowledge, there is no established standard of care specifically tailored for the adolescent population. The majority of existing research relies on retrospective data analysis. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate clinical features, treatment results, prognostic factors and late toxicities of locally advanced NPC patients treated with tomotherapy. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTINGS: Tertiary care hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between January 2007 and January 2020, we treated patients with NPC, aged between 14 and 21 years, with concomitant chemoradiotherapy using tomotherapy at our institution. We prospectively collected details of clinical characteristics, treatment modalities, outcomes and prognostic factors of these patients and then analysed them retrospectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 3-5 years overall survival (OS), 3-5 years locoregional control rate, 3-5 years disease-free survival (DFS), prognostic factors. SAMPLE SIZE: 51 patients. RESULTS: There were 26 male and 25 female patients included in our study. The mean age was 16.5 years, 5 (9.8%) patients with stage III, and 46 (90.2%) with stage IVa according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer, 8th edition staging system. Most patients (98%) received two or more cycles of induction chemotherapy. All patients received concomitant chemoradiotherapy. The median total dose of radiotherapy delivered was 6600 cGy (range 4800-7000). With a median follow-up of 73 months (range 9-168 months), a 5-year locoregional control rate, 5-year OS and 5-year DFS rates were 100%, 86.8% and 71.7%, respectively. Five years later, disease control was 71.7%. Ten (19.6%) patients had disease recurrence in the form of distant metastases during the follow up. CONCLUSIONS: Helical tomotherapy has an excellent late toxicity profile without compromising clinical outcome for patients with NPC. Radiotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma to achieve remarkable local control rates. LIMITATIONS: Single institution experience, small number of patients, and retrospective design.

Retraction: Epiploic Appendagitis Clinically Masquerading as an Acute Diverticulitis.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.7759/cureus.20188.].

Epiploic Appendagitis Clinically Masquerading as an Acute Diverticulitis.

Acute diverticulitis is a prevalent surgical condition that typically presents with lower abdominal pain and tenderness. However, the clinical and laboratory findings of diverticulitis are non-specific and other conditions may give similar manifestations. We present the case of a middle-aged woman with a left lower quadrant abdominal pain and fever of three days duration. On examination, she had tachycardia and localized tenderness in the left iliac fossa with rebound tenderness. There were no signs of peritonitis, including the rigid abdomen and decreased bowel sounds. The laboratory findings were suggestive of an inflammatory or infectious process. A computed tomography scan of the abdomen demonstrated a fat-density lesion anterior to the descending colon representing epiploic appendagitis. The patient was managed conservatively with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (lornoxicam 8 mg). The patient experienced gradual improvement and was discharged after four days of hospitalization. No surgical intervention was needed. The case highlighted the importance of considering epiploic appendagitis in the differential diagnosis of acute diverticulitis. An accurate diagnosis will prevent the patient from having unnecessary surgeries as conservative management is often sufficient in patients with epiploic appendagitis.