OBJECTIVE To examine the survival of pediatric tonsillar cancer patients and review a rare case of pediatric tonsillar cancer. METHODS Pediatric patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)… Click to show full abstract
OBJECTIVE To examine the survival of pediatric tonsillar cancer patients and review a rare case of pediatric tonsillar cancer. METHODS Pediatric patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were included from 1973 to 2014 based on a diagnosis of tonsillar malignancy using the ICD O-3 tonsil primary site codes of: C09.0, C09.1, C09.8, and C09.9. Patients were included from birth-18 years. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Additionally, a case of pediatric natural killer (NK) cell tonsillar lymphoma diagnosed and treated at the Nemours Children's hospital in Orlando, Florida is presented. RESULTS One hundred forty-one cases of tonsil cancer were identified. The mean age at diagnosis was 9.9 years (SD: 5.1, range: 0.0 (months)-18.0). Ninety five (67.4%) patients were male and 116 (82.3%) had unilateral malignancies. Burkitt lymphoma (32.6%) followed by diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (27.0%) were the two most common histological types of tonsillar cancers. 79.4% of patients received chemotherapy and 81.6% received surgery as a part of their care. The 5-year disease-specific survival rate was >90% for patient cohorts diagnosed from 1984 to 1993, 1994-2003, and 2004-2014 as compared to 64% for patients diagnosed from 1973 to 1983 (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Survival rates for pediatric patients with tonsillar cancer are excellent. Pediatric primary tonsil cancer occurred most commonly in adolescent males and usually presents as a unilateral mass. Lymphoma remains the predominant histological type of cancer. Most patients are likely to receive surgery and chemotherapy.
               
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