Multi-Disciplinary Teams should be Mandatory to avert Medicolegal Mayhem.
Here’s a scary case of miscommunication between a surgical oncologist and radiation oncologist, with failure to communicate a remaining undissected retropharyngeal lymph node and subsequent fatal carotid blowout upon nodal progression ultimately resulting in a $34 million malpractice suit.
Carotid Blowout Syndrome [Oncology]
Article published by The Expert Witness Newsletter – Sep 2021
https://expertwitness.substack.com/p/carotid-blowout-syndrome-oncology
A 49-year-old man presented to a local ENT with chronic right ear pain. The physical exam did not show any apparent cause, therefore a CT scan was ordered. The CT revealed a 1.4cm mass in the right pharyngeal space and a 1.6cm lymph node in the right retropharyngeal/parapharyngeal carotid space.
The following week the patient underwent a PET scan.
The patient was referred to a head and neck surgical oncologist. He underwent a right radical tonsillectomy and pharyngectomy. During the surgery, there were significant bleeding complications. The tonsillar mass was removed, but the lymph node could not be addressed due to the proximity to the carotid artery. The surgery was aborted. The patient was told that he would need a later operation to attempt the removal of the lymph node.
This is where the critical error allegedly occurred. There was a failure of communication between the surgical oncologist, and the rest of the treatment team (local ENT, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist). From this point, the patient was treated as if entire cancer had been surgically resected. The patient was never brought back to the operating room to address the enlarged lymph node.
Pathology revealed HPV/p16-positive squamous cell cancer. Operating under the assumption of complete surgical resection, the treatment recommendation was for radiation therapy but no chemotherapy. He underwent radiation therapy to a dose of 60Gy over 30 treatment days.
6 months later, the patient had worsening ear pain and difficulty speaking. Repeat imaging showed the recurrence of a mass in his right parapharyngeal carotid space.
Biopsy confirmed recurrent squamous cell carcinoma. This time he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
Workup suggested that the lymph node had continued to progress, causing carotid stenosis.
The patient was hospitalized for 4 days and treated with steroids. The day after he was discharged, he died at home.
The autopsy revealed he died of a massive bleed when necrotic cancer in the lymph node eroded into his carotid artery. This is also known as carotid blowout syndrome.
The patient’s family contacted an attorney, and numerous expert witnesses were hired to review his care.
The accusations against the doctors are described here:
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Head and neck oncologist
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Failed to communicate that the cancer was not completely resected
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Failed to bring the patient back for a repeat operation
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Radiation oncologist
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Failed to realize that the tumour had not been completely resected
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Gave radiation dose of 60Gy (only appropriate if completely resected)
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Failed to give 70Gy (appropriate dose for remaining tumour)
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Medical oncologist
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Failed to give chemotherapy when indicated
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