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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2018; 39(04): 524-526
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_85_17
Practitioner Section

Pneumomediastinum and Subcutaneous Emphysema in the Neck, Axilla, and Chest Regions in a Patient with Olfactory Neuroblastoma Treated with Chemoradiotherapy

Radha Kesarwani
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Seema Pandey
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Anil Kumar Maurya
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Virendra Singh
Department of Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis, Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema in the neck, axilla, and chest do not commonly occur after neoadjuvant cisplatin/etoposide chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy, and adjuvant cisplatin/etoposide chemotherapy in patients with olfactory neuroblastoma. There are few case reports of pneumomediastinum induced by and occurring during bleomycin/etoposide/cisplatin chemotherapy in testicular cancer. The present case differs from the previous cases in that our patient developed spontaneous pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema in the neck, axilla, and chest approximately 2 months after completion of chemoradiotherapy for olfactory neuroblastoma. These conditions may have been treatment induced or caused by breath-holding after forceful inspiration. The latter would have created a massive pressure gradient between the alveoli and surrounding structures, causing alveolar rupture, and subsequent passage of air into the mediastinum and subcutaneous tissue of the neck, axilla, and chest.

Keywords

cisplatin - etoposide - mediastinum - radiotherapy - subcutaneous emphysema


Publication History

Article published online:
17 June 2021

© 2018. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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