Massive myiasis in an advanced metastatic neck tumor

Only a small number of cases of myiasis have been previously reported in patients with a head and neck malignancy; most of these occurred in patients with primary or metastatic skin cancer. We report a case of massive Lucilia sericata myiasis in the neck of a 57-year-old man with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx and hypopharynx that metastasized to the neck lymph nodes. The neck disease manifested as necrosis and skin involvement. Clinical examination revealed an extensive wound within the neck tumor at levels II and V on the right that was heavily infested with maggot larvae. Removal of larvae clusters was performed, and the isolated larvae were subsequently identified as L sericata. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an infestation of L sericata myiasis in a metastasis to the neck lymph nodes.