Pharyngeal Pouch and Concurrent Tongue Base Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An Unusual and Challenging Dual Pathology Causing Dysphagia

Abstract

Dysphagia is a common symptom in patients presenting to physicians in primary and secondary care. The term dysphagia describes the perception of obstruction during swallowing. The initial consideration when dealing with this symptom is to exclude serious pathology such as a malignancy. In this case report, we describe an unusual combination of two pathologies to account for dysphagia in our patient; a synchronous pathology of pharyngeal pouch and a tongue base squamous cell carcinoma. The combination of these two pathologies occurring together is extremely rare and both pathologies can present with dysphagia as the main presenting symptom. We share this case to raise awareness among colleagues, as to the best of our knowledge this has not been reported in the published literature.