Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Mar;20(2):61-7.
doi: 10.1055/s-0029-1236165.

Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma: a 13-year experience at a single institution

Affiliations

Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma: a 13-year experience at a single institution

Erin M Lin et al. Skull Base. 2010 Mar.

Abstract

We present our experience with sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma at the University of Michigan over 13 years and review prior published data. We conducted a retrospective review of 19 patients who presented to a tertiary care academic center multidisciplinary skull base clinic with sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma between 1995 and 2008. Overall survival was 22% at 5 years, and the estimated 5-year distant metastasis-free survival was 35%. At 2 years, local control was 83%, regional control was 50%, and distant control was 83%. Local control was best in those patients treated nonsurgically, as was median survival, though this was not statistically significant. Nodal disease in the neck, either at presentation or at recurrence, was noted in 26% of patients. Survival for sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma remains poor. It is possible that up-front radiation or chemoradiation will lead to better local control rates, though surgery remains a mainstay of treatment. In all cases, the cervical nodes should be addressed with primary treatment.

Keywords: SNUC; anterior skull base; sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma; subcranial.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Overall survival.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Survival by age.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Survival by margin status.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Frierson H F, Jr, Mills S E, Fechner R E, Taxy J B, Levine P A. Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma. An aggressive neoplasm derived from schneiderian epithelium and distinct from olfactory neuroblastoma. Am J Surg Pathol. 1986;10:771–779. - PubMed
    1. Gorelick J, Ross D, Marentette L, Blaivas M. Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma: case series and review of the literature. Neurosurgery. 2000;47:750–754. discussion 754–755. - PubMed
    1. Jones L R, Guffey P, Cordell K G, et al. Determination of tumor markers that can be used as prognostic indicators of sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma, esthesioneuroblastoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma of the skull base. Data not yet published.
    1. Musy P Y, Reibel J F, Levine P A. Sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma: the search for a better outcome. Laryngoscope. 2002;112(8 Pt 1):1450–1455. - PubMed
    1. Chen A M, Daly M E, El-Sayed I, et al. Patterns of failure after combined-modality approaches incorporating radiotherapy for sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma of the head and neck. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008;70:338–343. - PubMed