Extrapulmonary Small Cell Carcinoma - a Case Series of Oropharyngeal and Esophageal Primary Sites Treated with Chemo-Radiotherapy

Background: The optimal sequence and extent of multimodality therapy remains to be defined forextrapulmonary small cell carcinoma because of its rarity. The purpose of our study was to assess the responseto neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by chemoradiation/radiation in patients with extrapulmonary smallcell carcinoma. Materials and
Methods: Four consecutively diagnosed patients were included in this study.The primary tumor site was oropharynx in three patients and esophagus in one. The patients with the limiteddisease were treated with chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation (n=2) or radiotherapy (n=1).The patient with the extensive disease with the primary site in vallecula was treated with chemotherapy andpalliative radiotherapy to the metastatic site.
Results: The median follow-up was 22.5 months (range, 8-24months). Three patients with the limited disease (base of tongue, n=2; esophagus, n=1) were in completeremission. The patient with the extensive disease died of loco-regional tumor progression at 8 months from thetime of diagnosis.
Conclusions: The combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is the preferred therapeuticapproach for patients with extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma. Induction chemotherapy followed by concurrentchemoradiation or radiation provides a good loco-regional control in patients with limited disease.