The Management of Nasal Cavity and Paranasal Sinuses Cancers: Experience of Radiation Oncology Department of Mohamed VI Teaching Hospital of Marrakech

Abstract

Primary sino-nasal malignant tumors are uncommon, accounting for less than 3% of upper aerodigestive tract tumors. They affects mostly young adults, and they are often diagnosed late due to the silent symptomatology in early stages. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma are the most frequent histological type. the therapeutic armoury involves a variety of modalities including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The proximity of nasal and paranasal cavities to critical skull base structures makes the local management of those malignancies very challenging. The aim of our study is to describe the indications and therapeutic outcomes of radiotherapy in the management of sinonasal cancers, through a retrospective descriptive study that involved 24 patients followed for primary nasal cavity or paranasal sinuses cancers in the radiation oncology department of Mohammed IV teaching Hospital of Marrakech, over a period of 4 years between January 2016 to December 2019.The majority of our patients were males, with a sex ratio M/F= 1,4. the mean age was 57 years. squamous cell carcinoma was the frequent histological type. Maxillary sinus was the predilection location for sino nasal cancers. 63% of cases presented with a stage III. 9 patients (37.5%) were managed with Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by concurrent radiochemotherapy, 8 patients underwent surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy, 4 cases (16.6%) received exclusive concurrent radiochemotherapy, and 3 patients (12.5%) received exclusive radiotherapy.