SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE MAXILLARY SINUS

Eighty-five patients with squamous cell cancer of the maxillary sinus received all of their treatment at The University of Texas M. D. Ander son Cancer Center between the years 1971 and 1986. Their records were evaluated according to stage, disease at presentation, symptoms and si gns at presentation, treatment, and outcome. There were no differences in locoregional control or survival between groups treated with surge ry alone vs surgery plus radiotherapy. Careful analysis of the data in dicates that there was almost certainly some selection bias for the pa tients undergoing combination therapy, as most of this group had histo rically adverse prognostic factors identified. Those patients who unde rwent radiotherapy alone or chemotherapy presented with either metasta tic or locally advanced disease and were treated with palliative inten t; therefore, comparison between this group and standard therapy group s was impossible in this retrospective review. Although it is tempting to speculate that combination therapy improved locoregional control a nd survival in patients with more advanced disease, none of the data p resented in this review reach statistical significance. Furthermore, t here is no difference in survival in this population compared with a s tudy at this institution 20 years ago. Squamous cell cancer of the max illary sinus continues to be a challenging neoplasm. Radiotherapy may improve locoregional control and survival in a group of patients with more advanced disease and may have its greatest utility in earlier-sta ge disease. A multi-institutional prospective trial is needed to find ways to improve outcome in this patient population.