[Treatment of olfactory neuroblastoma: a report of 14 cases]

Olfactory neuroblastoma is a rare malignant tumor arising from the nasal cavity. From 1982 to 1987 fourteen cases had been treated in this hospital. The average age was 34 years with a range from 15 to 65 years, male to female ratio was 1:1. At the time of diagnosis, 3 tumors were of kadish stage A-involvement of the nasal cavity only, 5 of stage B-involvement of the nasal cavity and one or more paranasal sinuses, and six of stage C-extension beyond the nasal cavity, including the orbit, base of skull or intracranial cavity, or metastasis to cervical nodes or distant sites. All were treated with radiation therapy and 7 also by surgery. The three and five-year survival rates were 50% and 30% respectively. Seven patients died, six because of distant metastases within one year. It shows that the disease is aggressive from the beginning, and tends to metastasize early. A treatment regimen for prophylactic cervical node irradiation combining chemotherapy is proposed.