Pulmonary thromboembolism following total laryngectomy and neck dissection: a case report

A fifty-five-year-old male patient underwent total laryngectomy, bilateral modified radical neck dissection, and primary voice restoration for squamous cell carcinoma of the supraglottic larynx. During surgery the left internal jugular vein was found to be thrombosed and, therefore, ligated and resected. In the early postoperative period, pulmonary thromboembolism was suspected and confirmed by lung perfusion scintigraphy which showed bilateral segmental and subsegmental perfusion defects. The patient was successfully treated by anticoagulant therapy. It may be advisable to consider thromboprophylaxis in head and neck surgery in patients with clinically suspected pulmonary thromboembolism, if no contraindication exists.