title: Prognostic factors in pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa malignant tumours: A single institution experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To elucidate the clinical characteristics of malignancies involving the pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa and identify the outcome-related predictors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of the patients diagnosed with malignancies involving these spaces between 2006 and 2013 was conducted. We investigated the 5-year recurrence free survival, metastasis free survival and overall survival, and univariate and multivariate analysis were used to identify the outcome-related factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 80 patients (46 male and 34 female) aged from 1 to 82 years were retrospectively analysed. The most frequent location for involved malignancies included the pterygopalatine fossa (n = 35, 43.8%), followed by the infratemporal fossa (n = 25, 31.2%) and the pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa together (n = 20, 25%). In multivariate analysis, gender (HR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.034-6.488, p = 0.042), margin status (HR: 6.158, 95% CI: 2.115-17.932, p = 0.001) and adjuvant radiotherapy (HR: 3.116, 95% CI: 1.057-9.191, p = 0.039) were predictors for the 5-year recurrence-free survival rate, and brain invasion (HR: 6.218, 95% CI: 1.375-28.115, p = 0.018) and surgical margin (HR: 21.961, 95% CI: 2.383-202.418, p = 0.006) were predictors for the 5-year overall survival rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that malignancies involving the pterygopalatine and infratemporal fossa have a poor prognosis. Brain invasion is a dangerous sign for decreased survival. An ideal surgical margin is associated with a lower recurrence and higher survival rate. Adjuvant radiotherapy should be performed to achieve better local control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Maxillofacial & Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Zhi-zao-ju Road No 639, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: yuehe@sjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tong Ji University, Yanchang Zhong Road No 229, Shanghai 200072, China. Electronic address: yanghuawei2002@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Huawei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Maxillofacial & Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Zhi-zao-ju Road No 639, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: jianjian60@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Maxillofacial & Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Zhi-zao-ju Road No 639, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: chenping_zhang2009@163.com.
authors.forename: Chenping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Maxillofacial & Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Zhi-zao-ju Road No 639, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: zhzhy@omschina.org.cn.
authors.forename: Hanguang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Maxillofacial & Head and Neck Oncology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Zhi-zao-ju Road No 639, Shanghai 200011, China. Electronic address: eddielew021@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zhonglong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D035301:Cranial Fossa, Middle / Q000601:surgery*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D056739:Pterygopalatine Fossa / Q000601:surgery*; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D012888:Skull Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Infratemporal fossa; Malignant tumour; Prognostic factor; Pterygopalatine fossa