Sphenoidal sinus mucocoele and yawning after radiation treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

The long term complications of radiotherapy in treating patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) are well recognized. Among these, neurological and endocrinological complications are usually considered to be more clinically important. On the other hand, postirradiation sinusitis is often neglected or overlooked because symptoms are usually non-specific or not clinically disturbing. This leads to the under-reporting of this complication. We report the case history of a patient with NPC who developed recurrent and debilitating bouts of yawning attacks 13 years after radiotherapy. The attacks thought to be due to the compression of the hypothalamus by a large mucocoele in the sphenoidal sinus, which was successfully managed by surgical drainage.