Synovial Sarcoma of the Head and Neck: A Single Institution Review

The prognosis and clinical characteristics of head and neck synovial sarcomas (HNSS) are unclear. Herein, we present an update using a cohort of patients treated at our institution.

We performed a retrospective chart review of 44 patients diagnosed with primary HNSS between March 1990 and June 2012. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) curves were estimated and hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated.

The entire cohort's median PFS was 4.6 years, and 20 of the 44 (45%) patients developed either local or distant recurrence. Tumor size ≥ 5 cm (p = 0.008, HR = 4.69; 95% CI = 1.34-16.38) and a primary presentation in the soft tissues of the neck (p = 0.04, HR = 2.41; 95% CI = 1.003-5.82) were associated with significantly worse PFS. The OS and PFS of patients who received definitive local therapy versus those who received additional adjuvant systemic therapy did not differ significantly.

Despite the treatment challenges associated with HNSS, our cohort of patients had a better prognosis than one might expect in this unfavorable anatomical location. Our findings suggest that tumor size and site are predictive of PFS and that wide surgical excision is of vital importance, since traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy has limited efficacy at this site.