CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgical Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1545838
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Multidisciplinary Approaches in Skull-Base Tumor ManagementView all 9 articles
Extensive Locally Invasive Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Involving 10 Cranial Nerves Palsies: An Interesting Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2Alfaisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 3Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- 4Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Background and Objectives: Cranial nerve palsies occur in approximately 20% of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cases, often correlating with tumor location and cranial extension. This report describes a rare case involving ten unilateral cranial nerves.Methods: A 55-year-old female presented with right-sided cranial nerve palsies (II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, and XII). Imaging showed a locally invasive nasopharyngeal mass with anterior, posterior, and intracranial extension but without distant metastasis. Biopsy confirmed a poorly differentiated, non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma, staged as IV/A T4-N2-M0. Treatment involved concurrent chemoradiotherapy and multidisciplinary care.Results: Six months post-treatment, there was complete recovery in cranial nerves XI and XII and near-complete recovery in nerves III, IV, and VI. Cranial nerves II, V, VII, IX, and X showed no improvement at interim follow-up.Discussion: This case highlights an uncommon presentation of NPC with extensive cranial nerve involvement and no distant metastasis. Partial recovery of cranial nerve function following chemoradiotherapy emphasize the potential for neurological improvement in advanced NPC with comprehensive, multidisciplinary care.
Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Cranial nerve palsies, chemoradiotherapy Invasive nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, 10 cranial nerve palsies, Chemoradiotherapy, case report
Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Albilali, ALOTAIBI, Alfadley, Alqarni and Alhajlah. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abdulrazaq Albilali, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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