Treatment results for ethmoid sinus carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to describe the results of treatment in patients with ethmoid sinus carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

We performed a retrospective study of 34 patients with carcinoma of the ethmoid sinus, and collected the following data: age, sex, employment, tobacco and alcohol consumption, tumour-node-metastasis stage, treatment, and survival.

RESULTS

The mean patient age was 64 years. Seventy-six per cent of patients were men and 24 per cent women. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent histological tumour type (44 per cent). Eleven patients were classified as T(2), six as T(3), six as T(4a) and 11 as T(4b). Two patients (6 per cent) had nodal metastasis at the time of diagnosis. The anterior skull base was involved in 17 patients (50 per cent) and the anterior orbital contents were affected in seven patients (21 per cent). The five-year actuarial observed survival rate for all patients was 44 per cent.

CONCLUSIONS

Combined treatment with surgery and post-operative radiotherapy permitted good local control in patients with ethmoid sinus carcinoma. We do not recommend prophylactic neck treatment for ethmoid sinus carcinoma.