An unusual case of carotid arrosion bleeding

Carotid bleeding is one of the most severe complications in ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery. It is a rare complication in patients with cancer of the head and neck after radiochemotherapy. We report the case of a 65-year-old man who suffered from cancer of the tonsils (pT2pN1M0) and was treated in 1987 with surgery and local chemotherapy. Since then he reported recurrent bleeding in the left cervical region especially during physical exertion. The patient was re-operated and during surgery the tip of a catheter was found in the external carotid artery, obviously a remnant from a catheter for intra-arterial chemotherapy. The tip was removed, the defect closed and covered with a pectoralis major muscle flap.