Incidence of bone metastasis in head and neck malignancy: A retrospective study.

Aim: The retrospective analysis was done to describe the characteristics and frequency of bone metastases and prognosis of head and neck cancer patients with bone metastases. Materials and Methods: We investigated total 16209 patients of which 3620 were head and neck cancer patients entering our oncology outpatient department from January 2010 to December 2019. Of 3620 patients, 29 of them developed solitary or multiple bone metastases during the progression of the disease. Results: The overall incidence of bone metastases was found to be 0.8% (29 cases) in head and neck cancers. Bone metastasis was observed in solitary or multiple bones which includes vertebrae 12 (41.37%), hip 9 (31.03%), femur 3 (10.34%), and involve sternum, ribs, clavicle and orbits in few cases. All the patients had few months of survival after developing bone metastasis. Conclusions: With the recent advancement in technology, the survival rate and quality of life of patient suffering from head and neck carcinoma had increased. Distant metastasis to bones was rarely observed in these cancers. Bone dissemination is associated with poor outcome; thus it must always be taken into consideration when contemplating intervention in these patients. So, for early diagnose of this metastasis in complete responders' appropriate measures should be taken during follow-up.

Use of misoprostol before tandem application for intracavitary brachytherapy in patients of carcinoma cervix: An institution study.

Aim: To investigate the ease of tandem application and external os identification by giving sublingual misoprostol before initiation of intracavitary brachytherapy in cancer cervix patients. Materials and Methods: 36 patients with cervical cancer stage IIIB which were supposed to undergo intracavitary brachytherapy(ICBT) were randomly divided into 2 subgroups, group A patients receiving misoprostol and group B not receiving misoprostol.Misoprostol 400 mcg was given sublingually 3 hrs prior to the procedure. The efficacy of the drug was measured as per the ease of identification of os and easier tandem application and amount of bleeding during procedure. Results: Application of tandem and identification of external os was easier and amount of bleeding was also less in patients that were administered sublingual misoprostol. Conclusion: Sublingual Misoprostol given before ICBT helps in cervical ripening and thus leads to easier os recognition and central tandem application and reduce overall anaesthesia time.

Quadruple metachronous primary cancer in a single patient: A rare case report.

Multiple primary cancer is a condition where multiple occurrences of different malignancies occur in the same individual. As there is a rise in the long-term survival of patients, multiple primary cancer is now not a rare entity. To see four different tumors in the same patient is very rare, and here, we report the case of a 60-year-old female patient with quadruple primary cancer of bilateral breast, esophagus, and sarcoma of the leg.