Objective: The aim of this study was to determine survival and prognostic factors for ethmoid sinus cancer.
Methods: From the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for the time period 1988-1998, all cases of ethmoid sinus malignancy were extracted. Demographic, staging, treatment, and survival data were computed. Survival analysis was conducted with the Kaplan-Meier method. Clinical factors influencing survival were determined with the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results: After excluding patients with metastatic disease on presentation (8.9%) and patients with missing data for T stage, a total of 180 cases were identified. Average age was 60.2 years. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common tumor (27.8%), followed by adenocarcinoma (12.8%). Overall mean survival was 57 months (median, 38 months) with a 5-year survival of 40.3%. The percentage of patients presenting with T4 lesions was 45.6%, which had a notably lower mean survival of 38 months (median, 18 months). Only 2.3% of patients had positive nodal disease. Increasing age, T stage, and absence of radiation therapy predicted poorer survival in the multivariate model Adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, esthesioneuroblastoma, and melanoma showed more favorable survival than other tumor types.
Conclusions: T stage and tumor histology are the most important prognostic factors in ethmoid sinus carcinoma. Survival for T4 lesions is markedly worse than survivalfor T1-T3 lesions. Radiation therapy offers a survival benefit in ethmoid sinus malignancy.