Diagnostic dilemma of an atraumatic clavicle fracture following radical treatment for laryngeal carcinoma.

An atraumatic clavicular fracture presented after radical treatment for laryngeal carcinoma. This presented a diagnostic dilemma. The differential diagnosis included metastatic bone disease and osteomyelitis as well as post-radiotherapy complications. After investigation, the cause was thought to be a post-radiation fracture of the clavicle and to the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first ever documented in a patient who had undergone a total laryngectomy with bilateral modified radical neck dissections and post-operative radiotherapy. Cases of a fractured clavicle post-radiation have been most commonly documented in patients with breast cancer and only a few cases have been documented in patients with laryngeal cancer treated with a total laryngectomy, bilateral radical neck dissections and radiotherapy.