INTRODUCTION: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can present with a variety of symptoms the most common being painless cervical lymph node metastases, epistaxis and conductive hearing loss. CASE REPORT: We report a case of an 18-year-old male patient presenting to the ENT department with left sided carotidynia - severe pain in the neck radiating up to his ear. He had a small, exquisitely tender lump just below the bifurcation of the left common carotid artery. After the appropriate investigations he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. DISCUSSION: In a literature search on Medline and Pubmed we found no reported cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma presenting with carotidynia, nor was carotidynia ever found to be associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. CONCLUSION: We believe that this is the first reported case of such a presentation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
INTRODUCTION:Nasopharyngeal carcinoma can present with a variety of symptoms the most common being painless cervical lymph node metastases, epistaxis and conductive hearing loss. CASE REPORT: We report a case of an 18-year-old male patient presenting to the ENT department with left sided carotidynia - severe pain in the neck radiating up to his ear. He had a small, exquisitely tender lump just below the bifurcation of the left common carotid artery. After the appropriate investigations he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. DISCUSSION: In a literature search on Medline and Pubmed we found no reported cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma presenting with carotidynia, nor was carotidynia ever found to be associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. CONCLUSION: We believe that this is the first reported case of such a presentation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.