Hemangiopericytoma: a rare head and neck tumor

Among the rare malignant tumors of the paranasal sinuses and the middle ear, the hemangiopericytoma represents a very rare tumor entity. Reviewing four cases treated in our ENT department, we present here our experiences with this tumor. Inpatient and outpatient medical records from 1976 to 2001 were evaluated retrospectively. For the whole period we found four patients, three women and one man, who were treated with the diagnosis of hemangiopericytoma. Three tumors were localized in the paranasal sinuses (two in the maxillary sinus, one in the frontal sinus) and one in the middle ear. While the two tumors of the maxillary sinus and the tumor of the middle ear were treated only by surgery, the patient with the tumor of the frontal sinus also received postoperative irradiation because of an endocranial infiltration. This patient was the only one who developed an endocranial recurrence 14 years later on the opposite site, which again was treated with a combination of surgery and radiotherapy. The hemangiopericytoma as a very rare tumor in the paranasal sinuses and the middle ear should be treated with surgery. In our view, an adjuvant radiotherapy is indicated only in selected individual cases.