title: Radiation therapy of squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule.
abstract: From 1978 until 1988, 63 consecutive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule were treated by radiation therapy. Mean follow-up time was 46 months. Thirty-five patients were classified as having T1N0 tumors, 24 as T2N0; four patients were staged as T1/2N+. Treatment of the primary consisted of external radiation (n = 17), interstitial radiation (n = 37), or external radiation combined with interstitial radiation (n = 9). With respect to the N0 patients, local relapse was found in 3% (1/35) of T1 tumors and in 21% (5/24) of T2 tumors. Three out of six failures were salvaged by surgery. Elective irradiation of both sides of the neck (40 Gy) was performed in 9 T1 and in 16 T2 patients. Two regional failures occurred in the electively irradiated necks, two in the non-irradiated necks. Regarding the T1/2N+ patients, three relapsed locally and/or regionally, and one remains NED. For all 63 patients, a 5-year corrected survival of 90%, a relapse-free survival of 80%, and an overall survival of 65% were observed. In summary, for optimal local control and cosmesis we feel that for T1,2 N0 tumor stages a dose of 60 Gy for T1 and 70 Gy for T2 tumors is adequate treatment. The primary tumor is irradiated preferentially in our view, by means of interstitial techniques; furthermore, our data do not support the use of elective neck RT. Although patients rarely present with lymph node metastasis (6%), the prognosis of T1,2 N+ patients remains grim and more aggressive (surgical) treatment might be needed for this category.
authors: Department of Radiation-Oncology, Dr. Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center, University Hospital Dijkzigt, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: P C
authors: PC
authors: Levendag
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Pomp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001918:Brachytherapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009296:Nasal Cavity; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D015996:Survival Rate