Intra-arterial cisplatin and concomitant radiation therapy followed by surgery for advanced paranasal sinus cancer

To report the long-term efficacy of a combined regimen of intra-arterial high-dose cisplatin chemotherapy and concomitant radiation therapy followed by organ-sparing surgery when possible in the treatment of advanced paranasal sinus cancer.

Review of prospectively collected data.

Academic referral center. Patients Nineteen patients with advanced paranasal sinus malignancies with a minimum follow-up of 2 years. Malignancies included 14 squamous cell carcinomas (74%), 2 adenocarcinomas (10%), 2 adenoid cystic carcinomas (10%), and 1 undifferentiated carcinoma (5%). Sixteen patients (84%) had T4 disease. Intervention Treatment consisted of preoperative radiation therapy (2.0 Gy/fraction per day; total dose, 50 Gy in 5 weeks) given concomitantly with 3 to 4 weekly infusions of intra-arterial cisplatin (150 mg/m(2) per week) and systemic sodium thiosulfate neutralization. The regimen included planned surgery performed approximately 8 weeks after completion of radiation therapy. Ten patients underwent a transcranial anterior craniofacial resection; 1, a medial maxillectomy; and 1, an endoscopic restaging only.

After a median follow-up of 53 months, actuarial overall survival at 2 and 5 years was 68% and 53%, respectively. One patient died of myocardial infarction during treatment. No other treatment-limiting toxic effect was noted. Although 3 patients had persistence of disease, delayed local failure occurred only in 2 and distant metastasis in 3. Except for cataract in 2 patients, no visual loss developed.

Despite the advanced stage and unfavorable nature of cancer in this cohort, our results indicate that this regimen holds promise and merits further study.