Complex surgery gives new lease of life to patient suffering from rare case of advanced temporal bone cancer

About the Patient and condition:

Mr. Shyam Bihari Tiwari, a 48-year-old man was previously treated at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata for cancer in his right temporal bone. Six months later, he approached Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata with the same condition in his left ear.

Case Scenario

Mr. Tiwari was a businessman hailing from Balia, Uttar Pradesh who was diagnosed with Squamous cell carcinoma of right temporal bone for which he was treated with chemoradiation by Dr Shantanu Panja, Consultant ENT-Head & Neck Onco Surgeon and Robotic Surgeon at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata. The right ear recovered but subsequently he developed cancer of left temporal bone and presented at an advanced stage with metastatic deposits to parotid gland, neck and skin infiltration. It was staged as (T4a N2b Mx).

Worldwide Scenario

The incidence of Temporal bone malignancy is 0.8-1 in one million worldwide. Bilateral temporal bone malignancy is even more rare with only six cases reported worldwide. Hence this case is rarest of the rare case of temporal bone malignancy.

Expertise at Apollo Hospitals

The surgical team lead was Dr Shantanu Panja along with his team and Plastic Surgeon Dr Saptarshi Bhattacharyya at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, carried out the complex procedure and removed the entire disease after 8 hours of arduous surgery. Left Lateral temporal bone resection + Wide local excision + Radical Parotidectomy + Modified Radical neck dissection + Reconstruction with Scalp rotation flap and Split skin graft was carried out. A complete R0 resection was achieved validated by the Histopathology report. Patient was discharged on 5th post-operative day without any complications. Wound healed satisfactorily and patient also received adjuvant radiotherapy.

Apollo Hospitals – Touching Lives

The patient was refused by several centres for surgery as temporal bone malignancies are very rare and extremely difficult to treat owing to the complexity of the surgery involved and poor prognosis. However, the doctors at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata performed the challenging surgery and saved a life.

Patient’s testimonial

“My brother-in-law has been discharged from the hospital a couple of days ago and he is doing fine. He is staying with me so that he can follow up regularly with doctors,” said patient’s relative Shyam Nandan.