Successful Treatment of Syncope with Chemotherapy Irresponsive to Cardiac Pacemaker in Head and Neck Cancer

Recurrent syncope as a complication of recurrent neck malignancy is an uncommon but well documented association. The syncope is presumed to occur when a tumor mass invades the baroreceptor within the carotid sinus or when it disrupts the afferent nerve fibers of the glossopharyngeal nerve. A 59-year-old man presented with recurrent syncope and headache. He had a wide local excision including tonsillectomy and modified left radical neck dissection for tonsilar cancer 4 years ago. A computed tomography scan revealed ill-defined lesions in left parapharyngeal, carotid space and right upper jugular region. After clinical evaluation, cardiac pacemaker was placed, but he still suffered from the syncope. Then, he received the chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin. The last hypotension event occurred on day 10 of the chemotherapy. Six months after 3 cycles of chemotherapy, he remained in complete remission and resolution of syncope. We report a case in which syncope was associated with a recurrence of tonsilar cancer and successfully treated with chemotherapy

Impact of Reducing the Procedure Time on Thromboembolism After Coil Embolization of Cerebral Aneurysms

Background: There is still controversy regarding which procedure-related factors affect the occurrence of periprocedural thromboembolism. This study aimed to investigate which procedure-related risk factors can be modified to prevent adverse thromboembolic events after coil embolization of intracranial aneurysm.Methods: Using a single-center database, we retrospectively identified a consecutive series of patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic cerebral aneurysms treated with coil embolization. We evaluated the following procedure-related factors: procedure time, procedure methods (simple coiling, stent-assisted coiling, and use of multiple microcatheters), and number of coils inserted. The primary outcome was the development of thromboembolism before and after coil embolization confirmed by diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) irrespective of the location of the procedure. Pearson's chi-square, Student's t-test, multivariable logistic regression analysis, and sensitivity analysis with multinomial logistic regression analysis were used in the statistical analyses.Results: Of 180 cases enrolled, 146 (81.1%) had evidences of thromboembolism confirmed by DWI, and 13 (7.2%) had neurologic symptoms. Among the documented modifiable procedure-related factors, every 10 min increase in the procedure time was independently associated with the risk of thromboembolism, after adjusting the analysis (adjusted odds ratio 1.11; 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.21). The coiling methods, use of multiple catheters, and number of coils inserted did not change the effect of the procedure time on thromboembolic events (p for interactions > 0.05).Conclusion: This study showed that the procedure time might be the most effective modifiable factor for reducing thromboembolic events irrespective of the procedure methods used during coil embolization of cerebral aneurysms