REFCOR guidelines for sinus and nasal cavity cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Otorhinolaryngology (ENT)
• Pathology

Background:

• The French Expertise Network on Rare ENT Cancers (REFCOR) established initial guidelines for nasal cavity and sinus cancer in 2009.
• A literature review from 2009 to 2020 was conducted to update these existing management guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To update the 2009 REFCOR guidelines for sinonasal cancer management.
• To incorporate recent literature findings and expert consensus into revised clinical recommendations.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature search adhering to PRISMA criteria was performed, analyzing 1696 studies and selecting 250.
• A formalized expert consensus method was employed to revise previous guidelines and formulate new ones.
• Recommendations were developed for general considerations and specific histologies of sinonasal cancers.

Main Results:

• A total of 87 recommendations were generated, covering general aspects and specific cancer types including adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, mucosal melanoma, neuroblastoma, and undifferentiated carcinoma.
• The initial 10 guidelines highlight the necessity of multidisciplinary teamwork, specialized teams, and multidisciplinary tumor board meetings for effective sinonasal cancer management.
• The emergence of novel anatomopathological entities necessitates thorough histological and immunophenotypic investigation.

Conclusions:

• This article presents a condensed version of the updated guidelines.
• The first 10 guidelines, focusing on general themes common to all sinonasal cancer histologies, have been validated for diagnostic and therapeutic actions.