Carcinoma of the nasal septum.

Twenty-two patients with nasal septal carcinoma have been treated at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, during the 18-year period from 1961 to 1979. Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal septum was found in 18 patients (82%), with single instances of reticulum cell sarcoma, basal cell carcinoma, histiocytic lymphoma, and transitional cell carcinoma. One of the squamous cell carcinoma group had palpable cervical metastasis at diagnosis, with metastatic neck disease developing in eight patients from three to 25 months after treatment. Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal septum is aggressive and often undertreated. Our experience suggests that patients with septal carcinoma of any size should be treated by wide surgical excision (via lateral rhinotomy) and irradiation to the primary site and neck. Control of the primary tumor was achieved in 17 of 18 patients, with neck control in ten patients. The five-year absolute survival rate for squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal septum was 66%.