Isolated palatine tonsillar metastasis from urinary bladder tumor sparing lymph nodes: a case report

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common primary malignancy of palatine tonsils, and usually it is associated with smoking, alcohol consumption, and human papilloma virus infection. Metastatic tonsillar carcinoma is extremely rare with range between 0.8% and 1% of all tonsillar carcinoma, and most cases emerge from the skin, kidney, lung, stomach, and breast. To the best of our knowledge, metastatic involvement of the palatine tonsil originating from urinary bladder carcinoma has not been previously reported in the literature. We present a 72-year-old male with locally advanced urinary bladder cancer, subsequently diagnosed with metastatic palatine carcinoma. Histopathology confirmed urothelial carcinoma sparing lymph nodes. The patient died due to cardiac condition after 8 months of his diagnosis. Metastatic tonsillar cancers are extremely rare, especially from unexpected tumors such as urinary bladder cancer.