Oral Double Cancer of the Tongue and Soft Palate in a Pregnant Woman

We encountered a 30-year-old woman with stage IVa double cancer of the tongue (T2) and soft palate (T2) with neck metastasis (N2c) . She was in the third trimester of pregnancy. She first realized lymph node swelling on the left side of her neck when she was 26 weeks of gestation. Her Ear, nose, and throat specialist recommended observation. Because the lymph node swelling continued to increase she reported to our hospital in the 33 weeks of gestation. Biopsy specimens of the tongue and soft palate revealed squamous cell carcinoma. She underwent a Caesarean delivery in the 34 th week of pregnancy and we started selective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy and concomitant radiotherapy. Both primary cancers subsequently disappeared and we performed bilateral dissection of the cervical lymph nodes. Our goal was to deliver optimal cancer treatment to this young woman without lowering her quality of life by inducing speech and swallowing dysfunction. We found selective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy with concomitant radiotherapy useful to treat this primary tongue and soft palate cancer.