• If the disease recurs, chemotherapy may improve the quality of life and the length of survival.
• All patients are candidates for clinical trials of new therapies.
Stage I
Standard Treatment Surgery is used for small tumors of the lower part of the maxillary sinus. If the tumor extends near the surgical margin, radiotherapy is then given.
For ethmoid sinus cancer, which is usually advanced, extensive surgery (if possible) is followed by radiotherapy. If the cancer cannot be removed, radiotherapy is used alone. Sphenoid sinus cancers are treated with radiotherapy, similar to nasopharyngeal cancers. Nasal cavity cancers are treated with either surgery or radiotherapy.
Occasionally, melanomas and some sarcomas—such as cancers of cartilage (chondrosarcomas) and bone (osteosarcomas or Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer)—occur in this area. Melanomas and sarcomas are surgically excised if possible.
There is also a special kind of tumor in this area called an inverting papilloma. This is most often described as benign , but some consider it a low-grade cancer because it tends to grow aggressively and because it requires therapy similar to that for cancer. Inverting papillomas are treated with surgery, with radical additional surgery if they recur.
