Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the ethmoid sinus

Malignant fibrous histiocytomas are soft-tissue tumours of histiocytic origin that occur infrequently in the head and neck region. There are no completely reliable histologic criteria for the diagnosis of malignancy. Only five MFHs arising primarily from the ethmoid sinus have been reported in the literature. A further case is described in which the diagnosis was only definitely established following ultrastructural examination. Local tumour recurrence occurred in both the nasal cavity and nasopharynx eighteen months following primary combination treatment by radiotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy and surgery. Multicentric synchronous tumour recurrence has not been previously described in MFH involving the head and neck. This feature may account for the well documented high local recurrence rate following apparently complete surgical ablation.