Mucosal melanoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses

✍ Scribed by Todd T. Kingdom; Dr. Michael J. Kaplan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 509 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1043-3074
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.2880170303

✦ Synopsis

Background. Mucosal melanomas of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses are rare and do poorly.

Methods. Seventeen patients treated from 1981 to 1993 at a single referral center were retrospectively reviewed.

Results. Thirteen patients underwent surgical resection, with seven receiving postoperative radiotherapy. Eight had microscopically negative margins. The actuarial 2-year and 5-year survivals for this group of 13 were 67% (8 of 12) and 20% (2 of 10). The local recurrence rate was 85% (11 of 13) and distant metastases occurred in 31% (4 of 13) patients. In the absence of metastatic disease, resection of recurrent tumor correlated with disease-free intervals ranging from 3 months to 40 months.

Conclusions. Those who received postoperative radiotherapy appeared to have done better with increased disease-free intervals and prolonged survival. Negative surgical margins were not predictive of a more favorable outcome. Surgical resection followed by postoperative radiotherapy is appropriate and resection of recurrent tumor should be considered.