OLFACTORY NEURAL TUMORS - THE ROLE OF EXTERNAL-BEAM RADIOTHERAPY

Olfactory neuroblastoma is an uncommon tumour arising in the nasal cav ity or paranasal sinuses. We report the management of nine cases treat ed with external beam radiotherapy subsequent to surgery, either attem pted definitive removal or biopsy only. Recent refinements in patholog ical evaluation of these tumours are discussed, Seven cases were deeme d classical olfactory neuroblastoma whilst two were classified as neur oendocrine carcinoma. The clinical features, radiotherapy technique an d variable natural history are presented. Seven of eight patients trea ted radically were controlled locally, with a minimum Follow-up or two years. Three patients developed cervical lymph node disease and three patients died of systemic metastatic disease. Suggestions are made as to which patients should have en-bloc resection rather than definitiv e radiotherapy.