A Case of Rapidly Progressive NUT Carcinoma in the Neck

NUT carcinoma is a rare cancer of the head and neck region, with only about 11 cases reported so far in Japan. In this report, we describe a case of NUT carcinoma arising in the cervical region. The patient was a 51-year-old man who presented with a swelling in the left submental region which was diagnosed by histopathologic examination of a tissue biopsy specimen as poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Because of airway stenosis, we performed a tracheostomy prior to cervical dissection. The diagnosis of NUT carcinoma was made on Day 17 after surgery by postoperative histopathology. The tumor regrew rapidly and became unresectable; the patient was therefore started on treatment with pembrolizumab on Day 36 after surgery, but it proved ineffective. We discuss the case with a literature review, because NUT carcinoma is a very rare disease and we encountered difficulties in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.