Clinical presentation

A 59-year-old man with previous total laryngectomy for squamous cell carcinoma was referred to our department for fever, cough and recurrent pneumonia lasting for the past 5 months. The patient did not receive adjuvant radiochemotherapy and never showed neoplastic recurrence during follow-up. After 3 years, he developed myocardial infarction, he was re-hospitalised in an intensive care unit, and he was treated by mechanical ventilation after tracheostomy tube placement. Three months after discharge, the patient developed progressive dysphagia, coughing and gradual clinical deterioration. He …